SOIURID^.— C1YNOMY8 COLUMIUAND8. 



905 



gray ; llic u|)|)er is of a reddish brown : the lower part of the jaws, tliu uiuler 

 ]mrt of' I ho nech, legs and feet, fn»in the body and belly downwards, are of a 

 light briek-red : the nose and eyes are of a darker sha<le, of tiu; same culonr : 

 the upper part of the head, neck, and bo<ly are of a curious brown gray, with 

 a slight tingo of brick red: (he longer iinirs of these parts are of a re<ldish 

 white color at their extremities, and falling together give this aninml a s|)eckled 

 np|)carancc. These animals t()rm in large companies, like those on (he Mis- 

 souri, occupying with their burrows sometimes two hundred acres of land: 

 the burrows are separate, and each possesses, perhaps, fen or twelve of these 

 inhabitants. There is a little mound in front of the hole, formed of the (;arth 

 thrown out of the burrow, and frequently there arc three or four distinct holes, 

 forming one burrow, with these entrances around the base of these little 

 mounds. These mounds, sometimes ai)out two feet in height and lour in 

 diameter, are occupied as watch-towers by the inhabitants of these little com- 

 munities. The squirrels, one or more, are irregularly distributed on the tract 

 they thus ocupy, at the distance of ten, twenty, or sometimes from tliirty to 

 forty yards. When any one approaches, they make a shrill whistling sound, 

 somewhat resembling ttccet, tweet, ttceet, the signal for their party to take the 

 alarm, and to retire into their inlrenchments. They feeu on the roots of 

 grass, &c."* 



In this account, there is uothing respecting the cxteinal features of the 

 animal that is not strictly applicable to the present species, as illustrated by 

 the large suite of specimens before me, though the color of neither the dorsal 

 or ventral surface is quite so red as one would naturally infer from their 

 description of it.t Many specimens are, however, decidedly reddish above 

 and rusty-yellow below, which is the "light brick red" of the above account. 

 There is certainly a "slight tinge of brick red" in the coloration of the upjier 

 surface. The description of the feet, so far as it goes, is strictly correct, the 

 inner toe. of the fore feet being " remarkably short" as compared with the 

 other toes, and equipped with a "blunt nail", not a "long nail, nearly the 

 length of those of the other toes", as stated by Audubon and Bachman, but 

 still much longer than in the true Spermuphiles and Squirrels, as is also the 



* Lewii and Clarke'it Travels, Ut Amer. ed. vol. ii, pp. 173, 174. 



t In mpeot to ttieir aoooant of lh« color of this nnimnl, it nuiy be noted that tbry deMrlbe tbetr 

 " Barking Sqnirrel " of tlie plaioH of tbo Upper Mimiouri nil lieing of " a nnifunu bright brick-red and 

 gray", the former predominating, with the lower parte lighter, iudicating that the redneaa It much 

 stronger in the HlMwuri animal, a« it really ii. 



MMI 



