252 BULLETIN o(3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The Abert squirrel is quite certain to attract the notice of even the 

 most indifferent observer traveling through the wooded mountains 

 of Arizona, where it is generally abundant and seldom shy. I first 

 met with it on one of General Crook's expeditions, which T accom- 

 panied in 1884, when it was found in abundance in the Mogollon 

 Mountains, between Forts Verde and Apache. It was noted as soon 

 as we entered the pine forest. The first one was seen running along 

 upon the grassy turf. It " treed." after a brief pursuit, and was 

 shot in the lower branches of one of the superb pines which are the 

 glory of the Arizona forests. Thenceforth it furnished the hunters 

 of our party with sport and agreeably supplemented our daily fare; 

 indeed, under the regime of a clever camp cook it proved to be the 

 favorite dish, although the menu included venison, bear meat, turkey, 

 and pigeon, variously served. Notwithstanding several shotguns 

 were in use, the largest bag of small game was usually found beside 

 General Crook's saddle when camp was reached after the day's 

 march, all having been killed with the rifle. The bag usually con- 

 tained a bunch of squirrels, each bearing the characteristic mark of 

 the general's small rifle bullet in the back of the head, while the tur- 

 keys and pigeons were mostly decapitated by the same diminutive mis- 

 sile. One day the hospital steward brought me a nearly black speci- 

 men, with a message from the general, saying that he had shot it with 

 as little mutilation as possible, supposing I would like to preserve it. 

 Among many hundreds of these squirrels since seen I have never 

 noted another melanistic specimen, although some Apache Indians, 

 who afterwards acted as guides to our party, informed me that black 

 or blackish examples were by no means uncommon around Fort 

 Apache. In Colorado melanistic phases of the subspecies ferreus a 

 are common, and Dr. J. A. Allen notes a black specimen in his mate- 

 rial, from the Apache Mountains, Arizona. 



If not molested, this squirrel is quite gentle, and its habits easily 

 observed, but, when thoroughly frightened, it is an adept at hiding. 

 It would seem that its bushy tail, white beneath, would betray its 

 whereabouts directly: but it can flatten itself out upon the upper 

 side of a limb so adroitly as to be hard to detect, even when the eye 

 has chanced to fall directly upon it. If fired upon, it often betakes 

 itself to the tree-top. clinging motionless to the topmost bough, 

 where it is often so far above the ground as to be beyond the range 

 of shotguns and not apt to be discovered. These mature pine fore-t>. 

 unlike the spruce woods, are quite open, the trees being often too scat- 

 tered to allow the squirrels to pass from the branches of one tree to 

 those of another, and frequently they are obliged to descend to the 

 ground in order to reach a neighboring tree. If intercepted by a 

 horseman in its passage from one tree to another it will stop and 



a Sciurus aberti ferreus True, Proe. Biol. Soc. Wash., XIII, 1900, i>. 183. 



