TKTIl.VON'ID.K — THE OROl'SK 447 



I'rcvailiii;,' roldi' lui^rlil iicliracooiis-iiilniis ; tail always rulbu-t in llii' 

 Miiiiili' anil .Soiillu'iii Slates, ocfifidiially j,'i'ay on tin.- Ailofjliaiiy Mdiiii- 

 taiiis, and in Ni^w Hn^^laml Slate.-; usually f,'iay in Eastern Jlritish 

 Aineriea. Ilah. Daslern I'inv iiK e nf Nuilli Anierica . var. n nih ellun, 



I'reVftililii,' Cdliir lilMish-ashy : tail always pale a>li. Il<il>. liiieky 

 Mountains of I'liiteil Slates, ami interior feuiolis of liritish Aineriea, 

 to llie Yukon var. a in It f llo ides, 



I'n.'vailiiif,' eolor liaik lerrnj^inous ; tail always dark liTrnj^'iiions near 

 the (•oast, oeeasioiially iliU'k frray in inoiintainoiis i'i'i,'ions, //nh, Noitli- 

 west coast rcffioii (Oi'erri)n, Wasliin^^ton, liiitisli Colninl>ia, utc.) var. sahini. 



Tliu alidvo .syiio])sis is iutoiidcd to i)i'esoiit in the .siinplost Ibnntho cluimc- 

 tori.stic I'uiitiirt'S ut' tliu tlivcu (lefiiiiihlo lucu.s of tlii.s oxctiiidiiioly variiibk) 

 .species, as e.xliihited in a lioht ni.stv riiloiis-tailed f'unn of the Atlantic 

 State.s, a ])ak' oiay asliy-tailed I'oi'ni of tiie Koeky Mountains of the I'nited 

 States and Ih'itisli Anu'vica, and a ihivk rusty rufoiis-taiUnl form of the 

 northwest coast rej^ioii. These three, wlien based on s[ieciinens from the 

 regions where tlieir cliaracters are most exaooemted and uniform, appear 

 suthciently distinct; Init wlien we find that specimens from the Xew Kng- 

 huid States have tiie rufous bodies of uiiiIhIIiik and gray tails of umbc/luidrs, 

 and tliat examjiles from Eastern Oregon and Wasliiuoton 'I'erritory have the 

 dark rusty bodies of siililnl and gray tails of Hinhdloiilea, and eontinue to 

 see that tlie transition lietweeii any two of tlie tliree forms is gradual with 

 tlie locality, we are unavtjidably led to the conelusittn that they are merely 

 geograjiliical modifications ol' one species. The continuity of the dark suh- 

 lerminal tail-liand in iinihr/liis, iiiid its interru])tiou in mnhcUoidcs, — charac- 

 ters on wiiich great stress is laid by Mr. Klliot in his monograph, above cited, 

 — we find to be contradicted by tlie large series whieli we have examined ; 

 neitlier condition seems to be the rule in eitiier race, luit the character 

 proves to be utterly unreliable. 



In the less elevated and more soutiiern jiortions of the Eastern Province 

 of tlie United State.s, as in tiie Mississippi Valley and the States bordering 

 the (!idf and South Atlantic, the rufous ty])e is prevalent; the tiiil being 

 always, so far as tiie s])eciniens we have seen indicate, of an ochraceous- 

 rufous tint. Specimens with gray tails first occur on the Alleghany ^loun- 

 taiiis, and become more common in the Xew England States, the specimens 

 from Maine having nearly all gray tiuls. S])ecimens from Labradir approacii 

 still nearer th(^ var. vnihrlloiilri^^ — the extreme gray condition, — and iigree 

 witli Alaskan si)eciiueiis in having more Iirown than those i'rom tlie interior 

 ]iortions of liritish America or the Hoeky Mountains of the United States. 

 More nortliern s]iecimens of the iidand form have, again, a greater anioimt 

 of white than those from the south or coastward. Passing southward from 

 Alaska toward Oregon, s])ecimens become darker, until, in the dense humid 

 forests of the region of tlie Columbia, a very dark jilumage, with little or no 

 gray, ])revails, most similar to, but even more reddish and nmch darker, than 

 the style of the Southern States of the Eastern I'rovince. Passing from the 



