SCIUIUD^>— 8CIUUUS ABEHTI. 



735 



SCIURUS ABERTI Woodli. 

 Abert's Squirrel. 



Seiurui dornllt WoODllousK, Proo. Aouil. Nnt. 8vi. Pliila. vi, 1853, 110 (not S. ioriaUt of Ornjr). 

 Bduruittbtrn Woodiiouhk, Pruc. Acnd. Nut. 8cl. Plilla. vl, 1H.VJ, !i-JO; 8itgr«nvuii'H Kxpl. Colorado nnd 



Zuni Kivcn, 185.1, 53, Mam. pi, vi.— Aududo.n & Haciiman, Quad. N. Am. iil, 1H54, '2112, pi. 



cllli, «({. 1.— Uaiiii), Mam. N. Ara. 1«57, !«17.— Allen, Proc. lJo«t. Soc. Nut. Mint, xvl, 1H«4, 



887.— CoUM, Am. Nat. i, lWi7, :155.— Cocks &. YaIiiiow, Wbeelei'a Survs. aud Expl. Wcat ol 



lOUlh Merld. v, Zoiil. 187(1, 115. 

 8(i*ru» alberli Obav, Aun. and Mug. Nat. HIat. 3<l. aer. xx, 1807, 417 (lege abtrii). 

 Murut cattanoliu Baihd, Proc. Acad. Nat. 8ci. Pblla. vll, 1855, 333 (typ. error fur eaita»onot»$). 

 Sci«ru4 cailMimoItu Baiuo, Mam. N. Am. 1857, 2(iU; U. 8. and Mex. Bouod. Surv. 11, pt. il, 1859, 35, pi. t. 



Specific cbaks. — Length of body 11 inches; of tail-vcrtebraj 8; of tail 

 to end of huirs 12. Above, i)lumbeou8-grny, with generally a more or less broiid 

 dorsal area of reddish-brown ; beneath, pure white ; sides of the body with a 

 distinct, generally conspicuous, black line, sejjarating the white of the under 

 parts from the gray of the upper parts. Runs into melanistic phases, in which 

 the color varies from brownish-fuscous to uniform black throughout. Tail 

 centrally black above, broadly edged with white, wholly white below. Ears 

 very large ; in winter, with long pointed ear-tuf\8, an inch to an inch and a 

 half in length. The ears are larger in this species than in any other Ameri- 

 can species of the genus. 



The brownish area on the back varies in color from yellowish-brown to 

 strong reddish-brown or bright chestnut, and in extent from a short narrow 

 stripe along the middle of the back, one to three inches in length, to a broad 

 band extending the whole length of the body, which sometimes widens so as 

 to cover the whole back from the nape tj the tail. It is occasionally almost 

 wholly obsolete, and, when confined to a narrow stripe, is much paler than 

 when of larger extent. Some specimens have a chestnut spot at the posterior 

 base of the ear, which sometimes involves the basal half of the ear-tuft; 

 most of the specimens are without the chestnut ear-patch. Nearly half of 

 the specimens are also wholly without ear-tufts. Tiiis is apparently a sea- 

 sonal feature, but may be to some extent individual. Of specimens obtained 

 the same day at the same locality, some have well-developed ear-tufts, while 

 others are wholly without them. The majority of the specimens taken in 

 summer show no trace of ear-tufts. 



There are four specimens from Colorado City, Colo., which present a 

 melanistic phase of coloration,* varying from pale yellowish-brown to black. 



* Dr. Couea iuforms me that the black Aberi'a SquirreU are the prevailing style in portionB of 

 Colorado, The collection mode by Mrs. H. A. Maxwell in the vicinity of Boalder contains several 

 examples of this phase, vbich, Dr. Cooes was assared by this lady, is mnch more commonly found there 

 than the normal one. 



