820 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. -,iOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



>^o. IV.— FLYING SQUIRREL'S NESTS. 



1 noticed with interest Mr. Crump's note on Pteronu/s alboniger, in Report 

 No. :^3 on the Society's Mammal Survey (Vol. XXIV, p. 486 of the Journal). 

 I have several times seen the nests of flying squirrels, but only of Petaurista, 

 sp. The Chins told me that of this genus, the females and young live in 

 nests, and the males among the branches of thickish trees, during the hot 

 and cold weather ; during the rains, as a rule, they all go into holes in 

 trees, often using an old "bear-bite". Pteroom/s sp. are said to live in 

 holes always. My experience has borne this out ; I have caught Pteromys 

 sp, in a hole in a tree in the cold weather, and have heard of two or three 

 others caught in the same situation by reliable Burmans, as well as Chins. 

 I have shot (1) a male Petaurista candididus (?) in the Chin Hills (my 

 No. 33o) at 9 a.m. on 26th April 1915, sleeping among the branches of 

 a thickish evergreen tree (a rhododendron, as far as I remember), (2) a 

 female and one young one (P. candidulus) from a nest within 50 yards of my 

 camp, in February, and (3) a second female (P. candidulus) in March from a 

 nest farther off, both about 6 miles west of Kindat : and I was shewn the 

 nest from which the two specimens of Petaurista sijbilla (2 & juv.) were 

 caught. On the other hand I saw a pair of Petaurista candidulus in August 

 1912, which I did not shoot, coming out of a hole high up in a teak tree, at 

 dusk. The nests have been different from those of Ratufa sp., in that they 

 are larger and more open. Ratufa builds a solid structure, while Petaurista 

 builds a strong but more ' basket like ' arrangement. In the nest near my 

 camp referred to above, I think I could see the owners sleeping during the 

 day, through the walls : the nest was in dense shade, and there were dried 

 leaves in its walls, so I cannot be certain. The differences in the nest used 

 by the two genera may be due to Petaurista using old Ratufa nests, but lam 

 inclined to agree with the Chins in thinking that they make their own. 

 This is farther borne out by dried leaves being sometimes seen attach- 

 ed to the sticks forming the walljs, though these may be repairs. 



These notes refer only to the Chin Hills and the Upper Chindwin 

 Division, and are curious in showing a dift'erence in habits in Sikkim. 



J. M. D. MACKENZIE, 



Pegu, Burma, -list July 1916. 



No. v.— NOTE ON EP1MY8 BOWERSL, And., ETC. 



On page 410 of Vol. XXIV of the Society's journal, Mr. Oldfield Thomas 

 says, under ' E^nmys boioersi, And., " one example was also obtained by 

 Mr. S. F. Hopwood in 1913, at Kindat itself." May I point out that this is 

 not quite correct. The specimen was obtained by Mr. J, C. Hopwood and 

 was labelled Kindat, although it was actually obtained in the Chin Hills, 

 about 50 miles west of Kindat. It was brought down by a Chin forester, 

 and I was staying with Mr, Hopwood at the time, so I am sure my infor- 

 mation is correct. It is a somewhat important detail of distribution, as I 

 think I was unable to get specimens of the i?, 6o?6■e;•s^ group East of the 

 Kabaw Valley {i.e., I only got them in the Chin Hills). I saw several large 

 holes said to be made by these rats in the area, but I think was unable to 

 get specimens. 



The name of the village where the types of Epimys mackenziei and 

 Petaurista sybilla were collected is Haingyan ; Epimys manipulus type comes 

 from Kampat. 



J. M. D. MACKENZIE. 



Pegu, Burma, H>tk July 1916. 



