OCT., 1900.] MAMMALS OF THE YUKON EEGION. 27 



animal is exceedingly abundant in all the .spruce forest, and doubtless 

 ranges northward to the limit of trees. 



Evidences of its activity are to be found all through the spruce 

 forest. Its globular nests of grass, moss, bark, and refuse are com- 

 mon (Plate IV, fig. 1), and are usually situated near the trunk of some 

 slender spruce, 10 or 20 feet from the ground. Sometimes several 

 will ))e found in the same tree, and a half dozen or more are very 

 often to be seen at the same time. Little excavations in the moss 

 show where the chickarees have been digging for roots; and spruce 

 cones tucked away in these and other out-of-the-way places are fur- 

 ther evidence of their sagacity. The ground is often strewn for some 

 distance with the scales of spruce cones which they have stripped 

 (Plate IV, fig. 2). Near Lake Marsh I found one such place 20 feet 

 square which was covered 6 inches deep with scales. 



Sciurus hudsonicus petulans subsp. nov. 



Ti/pe from Glacier, White Pass, Alaska (altitude 1,870 feet). No. 97457, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., Biological Survey Collection, ? ad. Collected June 4, 1899, by W. H. 

 Osgood. Original No., .370. 



Characiers. — Similar to aS'. hudsonicrts^ but larger and darker; central 

 portion of tail darker and with slight mixture of black; submarginal 

 black in tail wider; edging of tail much darker; underparts not pure 

 white in summer. Similar to Sciurus Ji. streatori^ but more reddish; 

 central portion of tail with much less admixture of black; subterminal 

 black in tail much narrower. Somewhat similar to S. Vancouver ensis^ 

 but paler and cranially different; lateral stripe much more prominent; 

 submarginal and subterminal black in tail narrower; median dor.sal 

 stripe less suffused; median dorsal hairs of tail with much less black. 



Color. — Summer pdage: Upperparts between the raw umber and 

 Prout's brown of Ridgway; top of head slightly darker than back; 

 lateral line prominent, intense black; forelegs and feet russet; under- 

 parts lightly washed with fulvous; median dorsal portion of tail hazel, 

 slightly mixed with black-tipped hairs; submarginal and subterminal 

 l)lack in tail rather limited; edging of tail ochraceous; under surface 

 of tail palei- than upper, the grayish roots of the hairs showing through. 

 ^¥^nter 'pelage: Similar to the corresponding pelage of S. hudsonicus^ 

 but considerably darker; median dorsal line more diffuse; tail darker 

 and with greater admixture of black in central portion. 



Skull.- — Similar to that of hudsonicus and its other subspecies; nasals 

 longer and posteriorly more compressed than in S. vanc<mverensis; 

 orbital arch with a sharp indentation between lachrymal and postorbital 

 process. (See Plate V, fig. 2.^) 



Measurements. — Average of two specimens from type locality: 

 Total length 303; tail 120; hind foot 50. 



'Topotype No. 97460, U. S. Nat. Mus. Compare with fig. 1, »S'. vancouverensis, No. 

 71889, U. S. Nat. Mus., from Goldstream, Vancouver Island. 



