52 ZOOLOGY. 



must be rare. It is nowhere very abundant, but is rather common in the coniferous forests of 

 northern California, where it is hunted by the scattered residents with great zest, both for the 

 sport which it affords, and because of its excellence for the table. 



It is eminently a tree squirrel, scarcely descending to the ground but for food and water, and 

 it subsists almost exclusively on the seeds of the largest and loftiest pine known, P. Lambertiana, 

 the " sugar pine " of the western coast. The cones of this magnificent tree are from twelve to 

 sixteen inches in length, and contain each one hundred or more seeds of the size and shape of 

 the small white bean of commerce. These cones would be unmanageable by the squirrel in the 

 tree, and he has the habit so common in the family of dropping them to the ground, where he 

 can dissect them at leisure. This he usually does in the early morning, climbing to the 

 extremities of the topmost branches where the cones hang, and cutting off a sufficient number 

 to supply his wants for the day. He then descends, and commencing at the base of the cone, 

 tears off the scales in succession, and skilfully possesses himself of the seeds which they conceal. 

 He is, however, compelled to supply other wants than his own, for the smaller pine squirrel, S. 

 douglasii, and the ground squirrel, Tamias townsendii, appropriate a large share of his booty. 

 When oak trees are near and acorns are ripe, he has recourse to them for subsistence, as often 

 as opportunity offers, robbing the woodpeckers of their stores, in which, also, he has the active 

 co-operation of his more diminutive congeners. 



From the fact that he feeds upon the ground it has been supposed that he was less active and 

 less fitted for climbing than most tree squirrels. This, I think, is not true. He is exceedingly 

 quick and graceful in his movements, and if less frequently seen to spring from tree to tree 

 than the black and grey squirrels of the eastern States, it is because he inhabits coniferous trees, 

 which are remarkable for the insignificance of the branches compared with the size of the 

 trunk, the limbs never stretching out and interlocking, as those of the oak and maple and other 

 trees in which our more common species live. 



Possessing all the vivacity of the genus, his size, the neatness and beauty of his colors, and 

 especially the graceful curl of his long and distichous tail, render him, perhaps, the finest 

 squirrel found in our country. 



Specimens were obtained from Stockton and Fort Jones. 



SCIUKUS DOUGLASII, Bach. 



Oregon Red Squirrel. 



Sciurus douglasii, ("Gray,") Bachman, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. VI, 1838, 99. — Ib. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VIII. 



("Bach.") Aud & Bach. N. Am. Quad I, 1849, 370 ; pi. xlvjii. 



Baikd, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 275. 

 Sciurus sueMeyi, Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila, VII, April, 1855, 333. 



Size that of Sciurus hudsonius, or a little larger. Ears well tufted ; tail shorter than the body, scarcely flattened. Soles 

 naked in the centre. Above, dull rusty, and black, mixed ; the latter quite predominant ; beneath, clear bright buff, 

 without mixture of dark or annulated hairs. A dark stripe on the sides. Tail dull chesnut centrally, darker above ; then 

 black and margined all round with rusty white. Hairs at tip of tail entirely black, except at their extremity. 



More northern specimens in winter have the soles densely hairy to the toes, the fur much fuller and softer, the under 

 parts with dusky annulations, the general hue grayer Size about that of & hudsonius, or a little larger. Head short, 

 broad. Whiskers longer than the head ; black. Thumb, a mere callosity ; fingers well developed, the central two longest 

 and nearly equal ; the inner rather longer than the outer ; claws large, compressed, and much curved ; palms naked. On 

 the hind feet the inner toe is shortest, reaching only to the base of the claw of the outer, which comes next in size ; the 

 fourth is longest, the third and second little shorter. Claws all large and much curved. Iu summer the soles are naked, 

 except along the edges and the extreme heel ; iu other words, there is a narrow central line of naked skin from near the 



