200 



DOWNY SQUIRREL. 



brown ; on the sides tipped with silver-gray. A broad line of white 

 around the eyes, a spot of white on the hind part of the head, a little in 

 advance of the anterior portion of the ears ; nose, white, which colour 

 extends along the forehead over the eyes, where it is gradually blended 

 with the colour of the back ; the whole under surface, feet, and inner 

 surface of the legs, pure white. Tail, irregularly covered with markings 

 of black, light brown, and white, scarcely two hairs being uniform in 

 colour. 



In general it may be said that the tail, when examined w^ithout re- 

 ference to its separate hairs, is light-ash at the roots of the hairs, a broad 

 but not well defined line of light rufous succeeding, then a dark brown 

 space in the hairs, which are tipped with rufous and gray. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length of head and body 

 " tail (vertebrae) 



" tail, including fur 



Palm, and middle fore-claw 

 Sole and middle hind-claw . 

 Length of fur on the back . 

 Height of ear, measured posteriorly 

 Distance between the orbits 



Inches. 



Lines 



7 



11 



4 



8 



6 







1 







1 



9 







7 







5 







6 



This downy and beautifully furred squirrel exists in the north-western 

 portions of our continent. The specimen from which our drawing was 

 made, is the only one which we have seen, and was brought from near 

 Sitka, by Mr. J. K. Townsend, who kindly placed it in our hands, in order 

 that we might describe it. As the animal was presented to Mr. Town- 

 send by an officer attached to the Hudson's Bay Company, and was not 

 observed by him, he could give us no account of its habits. We think, 

 however, that from its close approximation to that group of squirrels, of 

 which the Hudson's Bay, or chickaree squirrel, is the tj^pe, and with 

 which we are familiar, we can form a pretty correct judgment in regard 

 to its general characteristics, and we will venture to say that it is less 

 agile, and less expert in climbing than the chickaree ; it no doubt burrows 

 in the earth in winter like the latter species, and as its tail is more like 

 that of a spermophile than the tail of a squirrel, although the rest of its 

 specific characters are those of the true squirrels, we are disposed to con- 

 sider it a closely connecting link between these two genera, and it very 



