MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 259 



];ir ravines, wooded Avith maple, foxtail pine. fir. and spruce, which 

 localities were inhabited to the exclusion of the more open pine woods. 

 They were busily emph)yed in laying up supplies for their winter 

 larder. The pelage of the specimens taken at this time was nnich 

 soiled and matted together with pine and spruce gum, which adheres 

 in sticky drops to the ripening fruitage. As we descended to a lower 

 altitude, the firs and spruces were left behind, and with them this 

 chickaree; nor did I meet with it again for nearly three years. 



As the Mogollon chickaree only inhabits the fir and spruce forests 

 of Arizona, between the altitudes of O.SOO and 11,500 feet, its habitat 

 would be represented on the map by a few narrow belts and isolated 

 spots, corresponding to the mountain peaks and highest ridges of land 

 in the Territory. Its economic relations with man are therefore 

 unimportant, and may be said to affect the interests of forestry more 

 than those of agriculture, since little attempt has hitherto been made 

 to cultivate the soil at this altitude. Beyond pilfering a few stores 

 from the mountaineer's cabin it is innocent of harm, and it more than 

 compensates for all such peccadillos by the comjjanionship affor<led 

 by its familiarity and lively manners. 



Early in May, 1887, I pitched m}' tent beside a beautiful spring 

 on the summit of the wagon pass across the Mogollon Mountains, 

 along the line of the old star-route stage course, formerly running 

 between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Prescott, Arizona, and went 

 into camp for several days. A better location for observing the 

 habits of this chickaree could not have been selected. The locality 

 was a deep notch between two mountains, and the spring came from 

 the hillside near the lower border of a spruce forest, where there Avas 

 an admixture of foxtail and yellow pines. The Abert pine squirrel 

 here infringed somcAvhat upon the territory of the Mogollon chickaree, 

 but I never saw the latter forsake the spruces for the pines, nor did 

 I observe any quarrels between the two species, although I had heard 

 that the chickaree was jealous of any intrusion on the part of its 

 larger neigh!)or, which it resented by waging instant w^arfare against 

 it and driving it away. 



While at this camp, I instructed the men not to shoot or otherwise 

 molest any of the squirrels near our tents, hoping to gain the confi- 

 dence and thus learn something of the habits of the-^'arious small 

 quadrupeds that were abundant around us. In this I was not dis- 

 appointed ; indeed, it was not long until we were compelled to trap a 

 number of chipmunks, whose audacity kncAv no bounds, in order to 

 save our supplies. While I was preparing specimens in the shade 

 of a tent fly, the Mogollon chickarees pursued their accustomed 

 avocations within a few feet of me. The}^ w^ere full of curiosity, and 



