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674 



MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODBNTIA. 



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Var. IIUD80NIU8. 

 Eastern Chickaree. 



Average length from (he end of the nose to the base of the tail 6.75 

 (li)r New En^^Iand specimens); tail, to end of vertebra?, 4.50; tail, to end 

 of htiirs, about 6.00. Above, pale grayish-fiilvous, each hair narrowly once or 

 twice ringed with black; below, pure white, or white with faint annulations 

 of black. Generally, the middle of the bock is red, this color forming a 

 broad mesial band, extending from the front of the head continuously to the 

 end of the vertebrae of the tail. In many specimens, there is a short, con- 

 spicuous, black, lateral line. The ears are blackish toward and at the end, 

 and have, in winter, a short, bushy pencil, or tuft. The upper surface of the 

 iieet is generally more or less tawny, often bright golden, but sometimes is 

 of the same tint as the sides of the body. The tail above is centrally of 

 the same color as the back, bordered with a conspicuous, broad bar of black, 

 and edged and tipped with yellowish ; below, yellowish-gray. 



Diflerent specimens from the same locality vary greatly in color irre- 

 spective of season or sex. A small proportion of the specimens have a 

 conspicuous black lateral line separating the white of the lower surface from 

 the gray of the upper surface. Generally, not more than one specimen in ten 

 is thus marked, and such specimens are found, on careful examination, to be 

 in summer pelage. Yet only a small proportion of those in summer pelage 

 are thus marked, while I have never met with it in any specimen in winter 

 pelage. Many of thost; thus marked are evidently the young of the year, 

 and I am hence led tc believe that it is a temporary feature of coloration 

 characteristic of animals less thnn a year old, and that it permanently disap- 

 pears with the first autumnal moult. I find, however, two specimens with a 

 di'^tinct lateral line that are adult females. The same mark occurs in the 

 other varieties of this species, but it is often alnent in those in winter pelage. 

 Its more frequent presence in specimens of the western forms is easily 

 explainable, in part at least, from nearly all having been collected in summer. 



The red mesial band of the dorsal surface varies greatly in tint and in 

 breadth, being sometimes merely a narrow line, and again occupying more 

 than one-third of the dorsal surface. The color of this band varies from 

 light yellowish-red to dark cherry-red. The hairs of the middle portion of 

 the band are generally wholly red to the ends ; at other times, they are all 



