SCIURID.E 89 



Subgenus Tamiasciurus. 



Skull short, moderately arched ; posterior part of cranium 

 Wide, not greatly depressed ; rostrum short ; nasals wide and very 

 short. 



Sciurus douglassi albolimbatus Alli-n. (For David 

 Douglass ; white — border. ) 



CALIFORNIA CHICKAREE. 



Summer pelage; above from crown to tail brownish gray 

 tinged with tawny, the hairs being slightly tipped with this 

 color; eye ring buff; ears large, more or less tufted with black 

 hairs; a black stripe on the side varying in length and distinctness 

 with season and individual; fore legs and feet and hind feet 

 tawny olive; under side of head and neck white, tinged with 

 buff; remainder of under parts buff or ochraceous buff varying 

 in intensity of color, the hairs being of this color nearly or cjuite 

 to the roots ; tail blackish mixed with ochraceous above and gray- 

 ish below, the hairs tipped with white, most distinctly at the 

 sides ; terminal fourth of tail mostly black. JVmter pelage; 

 lower parts nearly pure white ; tawny tips of hairs of upper parts 

 longer; black stripe on side obscure; ear tufts longer. 



Length about 330 mm. (13 inches); tail vertebrae 135 

 (5.25); hind foot 52 (2); ear from crown 21 (.83). Weight 

 ten ounces. 



Type locality, Blue Canon, Placer County, California. 



California Chickarees are common locally in the coniferous 

 forests of the Sierra Nevada and other mountains of the north- 

 eastern part of California, from 3,000 feet altitude up nearly to 

 timber line, but are most common in mixed pine and fir forests. 

 Not known to occur south of the Sierra Nevada. 



The food is quite varied but consists principally of the 

 seeds of conifers, such as fir, big trees, sugar pine and yellow- 

 pine, berries, nuts, acorns and chinquapins. Mushrooms and 

 some insects are also eaten. I have caught these Chickarees in 

 meat baited traps set for other animals. They often store seeds 



