MANTLED GROUND SQUIRREL 



Say Ground Squirrel.— Callospermophilus lateralis 



and related forms 



Names.— Say Ground Squirrel, and various qualifying 

 words applied to "Ground Squirrel"; Big Chipmunk; ^Big 

 Striped Chipmunk; Golden Chipmunk; Golden-mantled Chip- 

 munk; Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. Plate XXIII 



General Description.-A small to medium-sized, ground- 

 dwelling Squirrel, considerably larger than the Eastern 

 Chipmunk (Tamias), but somewhat resembling it in external 

 appearance. Body robust, heavier than that of the true 

 Chipmunks but not as heavily built as many of the Sper- 

 mophiles iCitellus); tail about half as long as head and body 

 fiat, narrowly bushy; ears of medium size; first upper premolar 

 small. 



Color.— Sexes colored alike; some seasonal variation 

 Upperparts.— Summer: Shoulders to tail grizzled black 

 grayish white and buffy; crown of head, sides of neck and 

 shoulders washed more or less heavily with rusty yellowish to 

 bright chestnut, this area in marked contrast to rest of upper- 

 parts and forming a sort of mantle; ring around eye and spot 

 back of ear whitish; a pair of sharply defined, narrow, lateral 

 stripes of yellowish white or gray extending from shoulders 

 to thighs; above each light stripe a short black stripe which is 

 usually imperfectly developed and may be absent entirely 

 below the light stripe a well-developed black stripe; below this 

 lateral black stripe color of sides blends into color of under- 

 parts which is yellowish to yellowish white; upper surfaces 

 of hands and feet buffy; upperside of tail mixed blackish 

 brown and buffy, edged with buffy; lower side of tail light 

 ochraceous or deep buffy, banded with black. . 



Winter pelage grayer and with mantle much less con- 

 spicuous. Immature like adults but grayer and without 

 the bright mantle. 



^ Measurements.— Sexes of equal size. Total length ii 

 mches; tail vertebrae, 4 inches; hind foot, 1.6 inches 



Geographical Distribution.-Forested mountain slopes 

 of the western states from California, Arizona, and New 

 Mexico north into British Columbia. 



Food.-Seeds, grains, buds, green vegetation, insects and 

 their larvae, occasionally young birds, eggs, and young Mice. 



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