260 BULLETIN 50;, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



by no means diffident. The}^ inspected our tents and eqiiipnients gen- 

 erally, even to the horses' nosebags. They came to tlie spring and 

 drank, and were open and aboveboard in all their actions, unless their 

 fossorial performances savored of mj^stery. They were continually 

 digging large holes in the loose soil under the spruce trees, apparently 

 in search of hidden food, and their efforts were so far successful, in 

 that they speedily appeared seated upon some horizontal branch, close 

 to the trunk and facing the extremity of the limb, noisily tearing open 

 a cone to get at the seeds. Around the huge boles of the spruce trees 

 large heaps of refuse from the demolished cones attested the industry 

 and vigorous appetites of these squirrels. They are possessed of a 

 large share of the nervous activity and impetuosity which are so 

 characteristic of the eastern red squirrel, which, in general, they 

 resemble in habits. Their voice is nearly the same, and they chatter 

 and scold in the same impulsive fashion. 



Late in the month of May we found this squirrel inhabiting the 

 highest points of the mountain chain in this region. It was particu- 

 larly abundant on Mormon Moiuitain, whose deej) ravines were still 

 filled with snow. Continuing our exploration to the San Francisco 

 Mountain, we found it abundant there from the upper border of 

 the pine belt, Avhich overlaps the fir and spruce zone to the altitude 

 of 10,000 feet, nearly to the upper limit of timber, which is at 11,562 

 feet altitude. Its nests w^ere found in the last tallish firs and spruces, 

 from which point upward to timber line only stunted, prostrate forms 

 of the same conifers exist,, crushed beneath masses of snow and ice 

 that Jie upon the summit through the greater part of the year. They 

 also inhabited the deepest, gloomiest ravines, enfolded in the horse- 

 shoe outline of this group, where the light of day scarcely penetrates 

 the dense foliage of the evergreens, which lie in shadow most of the 

 day. There, their pert and saucy manners seemed a trifle modified, 

 still they would run down a sloj^ing branch toward me and stamp and 

 scold in their accustomed w^ay. Their coats were somewhat darker 

 in color than in specimens from more open and less shadowed woods. 

 Their nests were similar to those which the red squirrel makes in 

 southern New York. 



In August of the same year (1887), this species was found in 

 spruce and maple groves upon north hillsides, in the neighborhood of 

 Bakers Butte, at an altitude of 6,500 feet, and was ascertained to 

 feed to some extent upon the fruitage of the maple. 



