III. NOTES ON NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY : No. 4. BY HARRY 

 PIERS, Halifax, N. S. 



(Read mh April, 1897.) 



In the following, paper is recorded anything of interest 

 regarding the zoology of the province that has come to my 

 notice during the past year or two. Former contributions on 

 the same subject will be found in recent volumes of the Trans- 

 actions of this Society. 



MAMMALS. 



GRAY SQUIRREL (Sciurus carolinensis). The capture of a 

 specimen of this large species is recorded in a former paper of 

 mine (vide Trans. N. S. Inst. Nat Sc., vol. vii., p. 467). Another 

 was killed, May 20th, 1894, near the old sugar refinery, on the 

 western side of the North-West Arm, Halifax. 



RED Fox (Vulpes vulpes var. fulvun*). In the winter of 

 1893-4, an albinistic Fox was killed at Musquodoboit, Halifax 

 County, and was brought to Mr. A. G. Kaizer, furrier of this 

 city, who subsequently sold it to Captain Campbell. The 

 general colour of the pelt was cream white with a rusty tinge. 

 Each hair of the tail was tipped with black, giving the whole 

 brush the appearance of having been slightly singed. More of 

 this black was towards the end and underside of the tail, but 

 the extreme tip was whitish. Posterior parts of ears, black ; but 

 inside, white. Snout dusky. On the chest, a little behind the 

 four legs, was a lead-coloured blotch which merged into the 

 surrounding colour of the under parts. A white line margined 

 with black extended on the front of the hind legs, from hock 

 upward ; front of hind legs, from hock to claws, black. Length 

 of pelt from snout to tip of brush, four feet. 



*Mr. Outram Bangs in a paper published in the Proceedings of the Biological 

 Society of Washington (March 16, 1897), describes a new form of Fox from Nova Scotia 

 under the name Vulpes pennsylvanica vafra, it being distinguished from the typical 

 V. pennsylvanica ( = fulvus) by its larger size and deeper colour. Mr. Bangs also con- 

 siders the American Red Fox entirely distinct from the European species ( V. vulpes). 



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