107 



S. hudsonius, including its varieties, is found over most Qf Nortli Amer- 

 ica, extending north to the limit of forest vegetation, and south over the 

 northern two-thirds of the United States. 



Our variety has a more extensive range than all the others ; its habitat 

 embraces nearly all of North America north of about latitude 34° east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and extending northward over most of Alaska. 

 Its southern limit in the States is irregular, terminating on the Atlantic 

 coast near Delaware Bay, but occupying the highlands of the interior as 

 far southward as northern Georgia and Alabama, and even Monticello, 

 Mississippi. It is not common south of central Illinois and northern 

 Missouri, although Woodhouse notes its occurrence in the Indian Ter- 

 ritory. 



Description of var. hudsonius. — Average length, from nose to base of tail, 

 six and three-fourths inches ; tail to end of vertebrae, four and one-half 

 inches, to end of hairs six inches. Above, pale, grayish, fulvous, each 

 hair once or twice ringed with black ; below, pure white, or white with 

 faint annulations of black ; generally a rather broad dorsal stripe of yel- 

 lowish red ; in many specimens, a short, conspicuous black lateral line. 

 Ears blackish toward and at the end, with, in winter, a short, bushy 

 pencil or tuft. Middle of tail dorsally of the same color as the middle of 

 the back ; the central reddish portion bounded with black, the latter be- 

 ing fringed with pale yellow. Upper surface of feet more or less tawny, 

 often bright golden. The soles of the feet are naked in summer ; in win- 

 ter thickly furred, except the tubercles at base of toes. Winter speci- 

 mens are, as a rule, redder than summer ones, with the general pelage 

 much fuller, longer, and softer than in summer. Northern specimens 

 are generally longer than southern ones, as usual in species with wide 

 latitude. The brightest or reddest specimens, with whitest under parts, 

 are from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 



Habitat and Habits. — The natural home of -this beautiful and active 

 little Squirrel is in heavy timber, on dry, elevated land. It is also 

 very abundant in northern Ohio and Indiana ; it may occur sparingly 

 in the southern parts of these States. Mr. Langdon states that it is 

 common at St. Mary's, but is not identified in the vicinity of Cincinnati. 

 It is often found among evergreens, particularly the black spruce, the 

 cones of which form its favorite food. 



Mr. Kennicott gives, in Patent Office Report for 1866, interesting notes 

 on its habits, from which the following is abridged: 



'■Unlike most Squirrels, this species sometimes, but not often, lives in holes in the 

 ground. Unlite others, too, it collects into its hole, in autumn, ample provision of the 

 good things of squirrel life, wherewith to console and sustain itself in the uncomfortable 



