Aug. 30, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



10S 



Fig. 1 • -An Arizona Squirrel (S. arizoiwnsl*); adult male; about one-third life size, 

 from nature by the author. 



I 'Fig. 2.— Western Barking Squirrel or Marmot, (C. niliuvbiaiLHs); adult male; rather less than 

 one-half life size. Drawn from nature by the author, aided by photohraphs taken by 

 him from living specimens. 



spermophiles than it does with the true tree squirrels. A 

 careful examination of the entire structure of this species 

 is desirable, as it is in most of our common types, which 

 as a rule morphologists are rather inclined to overlook. 

 Very often something is discovered which the external 

 appearance of the animal would hardly lead us to sus- 

 pect. 



Coming next to the genus Tamias, we are met by a 

 long array of chipmunks, almost every region of our 

 country being supplied with its peculiar geographical 

 race, which races are now considered to be distinct 

 species. Every reader of Forest and Stream is so 

 familiar with the habits of our common little Eastern 

 chipmunk (T. striatus) as to render it unnecessary for 

 me to dwell upo i them here, and in No. 22 of this journal 

 for last year, June 22, 1887, 1 gave an account" of the 

 Gila chipmunk, which account was illustrated by a life- 

 size drawing of a male of that species. Although the 

 habits of these several ground squirrels are essentially 

 much alike, the various species differ from each other, 

 both in appearance and size in no small degree. For in- 

 stance, 1 find a specimen of Townsend's chipmunk (T. a. 

 toicumidi) to be nearly seven inches long, being of a 

 dusky brown above, and a light gray beneath, and with 

 five black stripes down its back, while a specimen of the 

 Rocky Mountain chipmunk (T. a. quadrivittalus), being 

 an inch less in size, is white beneath and reddish brown 

 above, with five dark brown stripes down its back, and 

 four lighter ones occupying the lateral intervals among 

 the former. This last named species is said to be more 

 given to running up trees when alarmed than is the habit 

 of these ground squirrels generally. 



Mr. Oldfieid Thomas. F. Z. S. of the British Museum, 

 in speaking of the characters of the genus Tamias, says 

 that they -'are characterized by the possession of internal 

 cheek pouches, and by their style of coloration, all being- 

 ornamented on the back with alternate bands of light and 

 dark color. Then skulls are slenderer and lighter than those 

 of the true squirrels, from which they differ in several 

 unimportant details." There is a chipmunk closely re- 

 sembling our Eastern one (T, striates), which occurs in 

 northern Europe and Asia, that by some authors is con- 

 sidered to be identical with our own, but it is undoubt- 

 edly a distinct species. Its habits are much the same as 

 are those of the other members of the genus. 



When one is still hunting for heavy game in the for- 

 ests, these little animals are frequently a source of great 

 annoyance, as by their shrill cry they give warning to 

 all game within hearing. 



Following the ground squirrels we have their nearest 

 allies, the spermophiles, constituting the genus <Sper- 

 mophilus. These little marmot-like squirrels are famil- 

 iarly known in many parts of the country as "gophers." 



Some twenty years or more ago I collected a small 

 series of the Eastern striped spermophile in central Wis- 

 consin, where I found them quite abundant, more espe- 

 cially in old barren fields, where sometimes their burrows 

 were so numerous as almost to resemble a miniature 

 "prairie dog town." The people there only know them 

 by the name of "gopher," and I herewith present a 



drawing of mine of one of these very engaging little ani- 

 mals. 



We derive the term Spermophilus from the Greek 

 words, sperma, a seed, and phileo, to love, indicating 

 the principal food of these species, the several kinds of 

 grain or seeds they may obtain in the localities where 

 they occur. As in the genus Tamias, the spermophiles 

 possess quite ample cheek-pouches, which they pack full 

 of grain to carry to then subterranean storehouses, when 

 the season arrives for them to lay up for the winter 

 months. Every one of our sixteen or seventeen species 

 of this genus make wonderfully interesting little pets 

 when they are caught and tamed; they are very gentle, 

 active and as sprightly as most squirrels. They are all 

 fossorial mammals like the marmots, but appear much 

 of tener outside their burrows than do those animals, hav- 

 ing many of the traits of the prairie barking squirrels 

 {Cynomys); popping down their holes whenever one ap- 

 proaches, and chipping away at a great rate, but soon 

 making their appearance again to further inspect the 

 cause of their alarm. 



Parry's speruiophile (S. e. empetra) is an exceedingly 

 interesting representative of the genus, being found 

 across the continent of northern North America. They 

 are frequently observed in communities, with their bur- 

 rows quite close together, usually chosen on some sandy 

 hillock where loose rocks of all sizes are in the immediate 

 vicinity. As with the Alpine marmot of Europe, they 

 have the habit of posting a sentinel to warn "the town" 

 of danger, as upon the approach of man, or when a soaring 

 bh'd of prey comes in sight. This species hibernates dur- 

 ing the winter months. 



A popular writer in zoology thus alludes to Richard- 

 son's spermophile, describing it as being "yellowish gray 

 or black; beneath pale grayish orange. The ears are 

 very short; the body short and thick, being only nine 

 inches and a quarter long; the eyes are large, the legs 

 short, the tail bushy. It resembles the squirrels, but is 

 less active in its movements and less elegant in its atti- 

 tudes. It inhabits the sandy prairies along the branches 

 of the Saskatchewan River, and the Rocky Mountains 

 from latitude 45° to 38'. The burrows are usually situ- 

 ated on some sandy- hummock; the earth scooped out is 

 formed into a little mound on which the animal sits, so 

 that he may overlook the surrounding group and recon- 

 noiter before he ventures to make an excursion. Four or 

 five live in a burrow; they appear to hibernate; they feed 

 on young buds in spring, and tender herbaceous plants 

 in summer, and in winter on leguminous plants and the 

 seeds of grassss." Some of these species of spermophiles 

 are banded somewhat as in the chipmunks, others are 

 faintly spotted, the former being represented by such 

 forms as Harris's and Douglass's spermophiles, the latter 

 by Townsend's. They vary not a little both in size and 

 general appearance, some of them partaking more of the 

 squirrel type, while others more nearly resemble such 

 forms as Uynomys and the marmots. Nearly all live in 

 communities, and all but the southern species hibernate 

 in winter. All possess cheek-pouches, and all give vent 

 to a peculiar cry when either angry or alarmed. In 



Europe and western Asia this genus is represented by a 

 number of allied forms, prominent among which may be 

 mentioned the well-known souslik of Bohemia, Ireland 

 and some parts of Hungary. 



We next pass to a brief discussion of one of the most 

 interesting groups of rodent mammals to be found in the 

 entire world's fauna. I refer to the genus Sciurus, the 

 true squirrels. Even within the faunal limits of the 

 United States we have as many as thirteen well-defined 

 species of these animals, including such elegant forms as 

 S, fossor and S. aberti. Of the latter I gave a life-size 

 head in a former issue of Forest and Stream (No. 22, 

 June 23, 1887) and a short account of its habits. So well 

 known is the general appearance of one of these animals, 

 and so familiar to us all are their characteristic habits, 

 that such topics hardly need to be touched upon here. 

 Far less widely is it known, however, that none of the 

 true squirrels are found in Madagascar or the Australian 

 region, while many specimens of wonderfully beautiful 

 forms and colors are indigenous to the tropics and tem- 

 perate zones of both continents. When we come to the 

 coasts of Malabar and other parts of the Oriental region, 

 we find types of the most strikingly developed sciurine 

 forms. In some parts of Africa and Borneo, squirre's are 

 found which are no .bigger than mice, as S. soricinus of 

 the latter island and S. mirmtns of the former country. 

 Then the Malabar squirrel is as large as a cat, with a 

 bright red color above, set off by intense black, while the 

 nether parts are brilliant yellow. 



So eminent an authority as Mr. Oldfieid Thomas, on 

 this group of rodents says in speaking of the species of 

 the Malayan region, that nearly all of them are "bril- 

 liantly marked, and many are ornamented with variously 

 colored longitudinal stripes along their bodies. One of 

 the commonest and best known of the striped species is 

 the little Indian palm squirrel (S, jMtmciru<m) which in 

 large numbers runs about every Indian village. An- 

 other Oriental species (S. caniceps) presents almost the 

 only known instance among mammals of the temporary 

 assumption during the breeding season of a distinctly 

 ornamental coat, corresponding to the breeding plumage 

 of birds. For the greater part of the year the animal is 

 of a uniform gray color, but about December its back 

 becomes a brilliant orange-yellow, which lasts until about 

 March, when it is again replaced by gray." 



As gaudy and as handsome as these elegant foreigners 

 may be, indeed the Malabar squirrel is as striking as any 

 macaw that ever screamed through a Brazilian forest, 

 yet where do we find more impressive animal beauty, 

 more native grace, more winning traits, surpassing agil- 

 ity, than we do in our own Northern gray squirrel or 

 Abert's squirrel, or that jolly little rogue "the squirrel" of 

 Europe? In my estimation we have no handsomer ani- 

 mal in our fauna than the black variety of Abert's squir- 

 rel, and the black form of our common gray squirrel is a 

 splendid creature. 



Of all the habits of the gray squirrel none are so extra- 

 ordinary as the migrations they at certain periods under- 

 take. Multitudes of them on these occasions, guided by 

 some common consent, flock together from all the regions 



