FIELD BOOK OF MAMMALS 



swimming rivers and lakes and devastating any farms that 

 lay in the path. 



The Gray Squirrel builds a bulky nest of leaves and twigs 

 in the crotch of a limb or else chooses a hollow in some rotted 

 trunk. The young number from four to six and often two 

 litters are raised a year. The first brood appears in March 

 or April. 



This Squirrel has several call-notes, a loud, husky bark 

 and a whining whicker being the commonest. It is an excel- 

 lent climber, racing through the trees and making long leaps 

 when chasing one another or threatened by danger. It has 

 an active, nervous temperament, although not to the same 

 extent as the Red Squirrel. 



Griseus Group. — Western Gray Squirrels 

 Western Gray Squirrel; California Gray Squirrel; Colui^ia 

 Gray Squirrel. — Sciurus griseus griseus Ord. Plate XXV. 

 Larger and grayer than the Eastern Gray Squirrels and with 

 broader tail. Upperparts pale gray, finely speckled with 

 white, sometimes with pale yellowish suffusion on back; 

 ring about eye white; ears never tufted; tail very large and 

 broad, hairs sometimes three inches long, color slate-gray 

 tipped with white; underparts white. Total length 22 

 inches; tail vertebrae, 11 inches; hind foot, 3.2 inches. 

 Found in "Pine and oak forests of Transition (and upper 

 border of Austral) Zone from extreme southwestern Wash- 

 ington through western Oregon and most of California 

 (except coast belt south of San Francisco) to northern 

 Lower California, Mexico." (Miller) . . 



Black-footed Gray Squirrel.— 5cwrM5 griseus nigripes 

 (Bryant). ... 



Much darker than typical griseus, with less white grizzling 

 on upperparts, and more or less brownish suffusion; tail 

 darker; upper surfaces of hands and feet slaty to blackish 

 Total length, 22.5 inches; tail vertebrae, 12 inches; hmd 

 foot 3 inches. Found in the humid coast section of Cali- 

 fornia from San Mateo County through Monterey County. 

 Anthony Gray Squirrel.— 5c«<r«5 griseus anthonyi (Mearns). 

 Paler in color than either typical griseus or nigripes. Upper- 

 parts gray with fine sprinkling of white; yellowish brown 

 patch at base of ear; tail above blackish, edged with white, 

 below gravish, banded with black, edged with white; hands 

 and feet 'iron-gray; underparts white. Total length, 22 

 inches; tail vertebra, 10 inches; hmd foot, 31 inches. 

 Found in the "Transition Zone of southern Cahfomia, 

 from near the Mexican boundary northwest to the moun- 

 tains of Ventura County." (Grinnell) ^ 



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