702 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 
The Northern Gray Squirrel varies greatly, aside from its melanistic 
phases, in specimens from the same locality, mainly in respect to the amount 
of the fulvous suffusion in the pelage of the dorsal aspect. The general 
color above is a fine mixture of white, black, and fulvous, variable in respect 
to the relative prevalence of these three tints. The general effect is that of a 
whitish-gray tint, especially northward and in winter specimens. There is 
generally a well-marked yellowish-brown area, almost unmixed with whitish, 
along the middle of the back, sometimes continuous from the nape to the 
rump, but generally restricted to the middle of the dorsal region. This is 
often wholly obsolete, but generally occupies an area of two or three inches 
in length, with a breadth of rather less than an inch. The hairs of the dor- 
sal surface are generally ringed with white, black, and fulvous, but some are 
wholly black and others wholly fulvous. The fulyous under-color generally 
shows more or less strongly through the superficial tints, especially on the 
sides of the shoulders, where it sometimes inclines to rufous. There is gen- 
erally a well-developed yellowish lateral line separating the white of the lower 
parts from the gray of the upper surface. This varies in intensity, and, 
although present as a rule, I find no trace of it in many New England speci- 
mens. The head is often of the same yellowish-brown as the middle of the 
back, but more commonly less strongly brownish; the sides of the nose and 
cheeks vary from grayish, with a faint wash of fulvous, to strongly yellowish- 
brown. The upper surface of the feet also varies in the same manner from 
whitish-gray to bright fulvous. The yellowish-brown at the base of the tail- 
hairs also varies from pale fulvous-brown to yellowish-rusty. Specimens in 
which there is a large, conspicuous, brownish area on the middle of the back 
have usually the yellowish lateral line strongly developed, with fulvous feet, 
face, and ears. The ears are generally fulvous-tipped, with a white or yel- 
lowish-white woolly patch at the base, generally far more strongly developed 
in winter than at other seasons, it being often quite absent in summer. This 
white fluffy ear-patch is most conspicuous in winter specimens from Fort 
Des Moines, Iowa. In these also, the pelage is the softest and fullest. 
The dusky phases of this variety are local in their occurrence, 
being often wholly unknown over wide areas. They are found in South- 
western New Brunswick, in portions of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, New York, both the Canadas, in all of the Lake States, and 
in Jowa, but more frequently near the lakes than further southward. 
