NORTHERN GRAY SQUIRREL. 2 



above quotation, and only allude to it here as a possible clue to tbe spe- 

 cies he had in view, viz., " not the species " given by Godman as S. cbie- 

 reus, but another that agrees with the Northern Gray Squirrel " in every 

 particular except the size." He further adds, that " its habits and geo- 

 graphical distribution are the same as in the preceding," meaning the 

 Northern Gray Squirrel. 



He evidently has reference to a larger species of the Gray Squirrel as 

 existing in the same localities, with " the hair on the posterior surface 

 of the ears projecting two lines beyond the margins," differing from the 

 species he had just described as the Northern Gray Squirrel, which he 

 characterized as having ears " covered with short hairs ; no pencil of 

 hairs at the tips." Although his figure resembles in several particulars 

 that of the cat-squirrel, (S. cinereus,) parts of his description and his ac- 

 count of the habits seem more appropriate to the tufted winter speci- 

 mens of the present species. The appearance of the ears in specimens 

 obtained in winter and summer pelage differs so widely that we our- 

 selves were for many years misled by the tufts and larger size of the old 

 in winter. We recollect that in our school-boy days we were in the habit 

 of obtaining many specimens of the Gray Squirrel during summer and 

 autumn, which answered to the description of S. migratorius, having their 

 ears clothed with short hairs which did not project beyond the margins 

 on the posterior surface. During the following winter, however, we oc- 

 casionally caught in a steel-trap a specimen much larger, very fat, and 

 with ears tufted like that described as S. vulpinus ; and we prepared the 

 specimens under an impression that a new species had made its appear- 

 ance in the neighbourhood. The following summer, however, we pro- 

 cured in that locality no other than the common Gray Squirrel, destitute 

 of the fringes on the ears. We now resorted to a different mode of solv- 

 ing the problem. We obtained several young Northern Gray Squirrels, 

 which we kept in cages ; during the first winter their ears underwent no 

 particular change. But in the month of December of the second year, 

 when they had become very fat and had grown considerably larger, 

 their ears on the posterior surface became fringed and exactly corres- 

 ponded with the winter specimens we had previously obtained. As we 

 could not feel a perfect confidence in our own notes made more than 

 thirty years ago, we recently made inquiries from Dr. Leonard, of Lan- 

 singburg. New York, an accurate and intelligent naturalist, whose an- 

 swer we subjoin : — " It is considered established by naturalists and 

 observing sportsmen, that the Gray Squirrel, after the first year, has 

 fringed ears in its \vinter pelage, and that of course there is but one spe- 

 cies. Of ten prepared specimens, which I have recently examined, eight 



