llie Squirrels of Eastern North, America. 147 



Sciuius niger (Linn.). Southern Fox Squirrel. 



1758. Sciurus niger Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, p. 64 (based on 

 Catesby's black fox squirrel) ; Allen, Monog. N. Am. Sciuridte, 

 1877, p. 719. 



1758. Sciurus ciuereus Lini^, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, p. 64 (in ])art). 



1788. Sciurus vulpinus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 1788, p. 147 ; Baird, Mamni. 

 N. Am., 1857, p. 246. 



1802. Sciurus capistratus Bosc, Ann. du IMuseum, I, 1802, ]). 281 ; Bach- 

 man, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 18o5, p. 85; Aud. and Bach 

 Quad. N. Am., 11, 1851, p. 132, pi. LXVIIL* 



Type locality. — Probably southern South Carolina ; based on Catesby's 

 black fox squirrel. 



Geograpliic disiribudon- — From the southern limit of the pine forest in 

 Florida nortli to Virginia; west about to eastern Louisiana in the south, 

 and to the foot of the Alleghany Mountains in the notf-th. 



Habitat. — Wholly confined to the great pine forest of the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States; breeding in trees, often building its nest in the little 

 cypress ponds so common in tliis region, living principally on the ground, 

 and climbing trees, even when pursued, with apparent reluctance and in 

 a heavy and clumsy manner. f 



S. niger is still common over the greater part of its range, but is very 

 shy, and is seldom seen unless one has a dog trained to hunt it. 



General characters. — Size,* largest of the eastern squirrels; color very 

 variable, but nose and ears always white. Feet and hands very large, 

 the soles naked in the adult, sometimes partially covered with soft downy 

 hair in the young. Pelage coarse and harsh. 



Color. — Nose and ears always white, even in the black individuals ; rest 

 of the pelage varying individually from uniform glossy black to clay color 



*I have refrained from giving any references to Gray's article on 

 American squirrels entitled Synopsis of the Species of American Squirrels in 

 the (Jollection of the British Museum (Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory, 3d series, vol. xx, 1867, p. 415), because the author seems to have 

 had but a poor idea of the subject of which he treated, and any reference 

 to his work must only lead to confusion. As an example. Gray puts 

 Sciurus niger in F. Cuvier's genus Macroxus, under the name Macro.xus 

 vulpinus (in which genus he also puts the northern and southern gray 

 squirrels), while he keeps the closely related species S. cinereus Linn. (= S. 

 ludovicianus vicinus of the present pajier) in the genus Sciurus with the red 

 squirrels and Scirorus aberti, which he spells alberti. Gi'ay fortunately 

 only proposed three new names for eastern North American squirrels in 

 this article. He renamed the northern and southern gray squirrels, call- 

 ing the former Sciurus carolinensis var. major and the latter Sciurus caro- 

 linensis var. minor. The other name is Macroxus neglectus, from a speci- 

 men without locality, to which Gray assigns 'North America.' It is 

 impossible to say from his description what this animal was, and it is 

 very doubtful if it came from eastern North America. 



t Its usual way of escape when chased is to run along the ground to 

 some stump or log, upon which it climbs and waits until its pursuer conies 

 too near, when it runs to another place of vantage, and so on. It takes 

 to a tree only as a last resort, and then keeps to the trunk and large 

 branches, trying to avoid detection by hiding. I believe it never jumps 

 from tree to tree, as does its more agile and lightly built cousin, the gray 

 squirrel. 



