170 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



iNO. 27. 



their scolding chatter was often heard. A pair which occupied a nest 

 in a large tree beneath which we pitched our tent were allowed to 

 remain undisturbed until their almost continual scolding at our 

 intrusion rendered their company intolerable. At the other posts 

 where we collected they were much less common, and at Fort Eae 

 they seemed to be rare, onl}" one being seen during my ten days' work, 

 though one or two others were heard. It is probable, however, that 

 they had been killed off by the natives. 



A specimen from Fort Resolution, taken by Alfred E. Preble on 

 Mission Island, July 22, is abnormall}^ colored, being very light yel- 

 lowish-rufous above, very sparingly vermiculated with black; the 

 central area of the tail is light rufous, unmarked. Six specimens 

 from Fort Chipewyan, including both sexes, average: Total length 

 333, tail vertebra? 138. hind foot 51. 



During the season of 1003 we found the red squirrel abundant in 

 the country traversed as far north as Great Slave Lake, and Alfred 

 E. Preble and JNIerritt Gary took specimens at Hay River, Fort Provi- 

 dence, and Xahanni River. Along my route between Fort Rae and 

 Great Bear Lake it was common, and I took specimens on upper 

 Grandin River and at several other points between there and Mac- 

 Tavish Bay. At my camp east of Leith Point I saw a few tracks 

 early in September, but the forest was too thin to afford the animals 

 a congenial habitat. As we traveled westward, however, and the 

 country became more thickly wooded, as was the case after we passed 

 McYicar Bay, I foiuid the species common. A number were seen 

 and several were collected at Fort Franklin. Adults taken there 

 September 19 and 25 had j^artially assumed the winter coat, the 

 underparts, however, still retaining the unmarked summer pelage. 

 Along Bear River and the Mackenzie the species was common. 

 Owing probabl}^ to their comparative immunity from predatory 

 animals, red squirrels were extremely abundant about Fort Simpson, 

 especially on the island where the post is situated. A large series 

 was collected during the winter of 1903—1. Hundreds of nests, con- 

 structed of grass, bark, and moss, were found in the trees on the 

 island, and many of the animals appeared to be living in burrows 

 dug in the piles of cone scales Avhich accumulate under the trees 

 where they feed (see fig. 11). During the winter they lived almost 

 exclusively on the seeds of the white spruce, but about the middle 

 of May they fed largely on the blossoming catkins of the balsam 

 poplar (Populus hcdsamifera) . The}^ mated late in March and on 

 May 9 I found a litter of young a week or so old in a nest in a spruce. 

 While descending the Mackenzie in June, I found the species common 

 throughout its course, and took specimens at Forts Xorman, Good 

 Hope, and McPherson. 



