THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 239.— November, 1896. 



THE SEASONAL CHANGES IN THE COMMON SQUIRREL. 

 By Oldfield Thomas. 



Although everyone has noticed the differences in colour 

 shown by our Common Squirrel at different seasons in the year, 

 no exact account has ever been published of the methods and 

 dates of the various changes, and certainly, so far as I know, no 

 one has been aware either of the regularity with which the 

 changes occur, or of the peculiar manner in which different 

 parts of the animal undergo their annual changes at different 

 times of the year. 



Thanks to the kindness of Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, of 

 Whatcombe, near Blandford, Dorsetshire, the British Museum 

 has obtained a large series of Squirrels from his estate, killed 

 all round the year, and showing the changes so perfectly that 

 I am enabled to make out the dates and methods of the varia- 

 tions with some approach to exactness. It may be noted that 

 these specimens were obtained at intervals of six or seven weeks 

 for a year, starting in April, 1894 ; and that then — two somewhat 

 important gaps occurring in the series at the time of the spring 

 and autumn moults — two specimens were sent every week from 

 April 18th to May 25th, and again throughout October, 1895. 

 In all the number of skins amounts to fifty-four. 



Curiously enough, specimens killed in the fine and warm 

 spring of 1894 — on April 18th — are practically identical with 

 others killed on the same day in 1895, in spite of the exceptional 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XX. NOV. 1896. 2 I 



