172 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



found eveiywhere in the wooded country between Churchill River 

 and the eastern end of Athabaska Lake, where he explored during 

 the summer of 1892.^ 



Sciuropterus sabrinus (Shaw). Hudson Bay Flying Squirrel. 



Though flying squirrels occur apparently throughout the wooded 

 portion of the region, they are rare in most localities, and their 

 nocturnal habits and the great number of abandoned woodpecker 

 holes available for hiding places insure almost perfect immunity 

 from detection. On the Athabaska above Grand Eapid, and also 

 on the upper Mackenzie, we secured almost typical specimens of 

 bo.th aS. sahi inus and S. alpiniis. showing that these species meet or 

 o^rlap. or more probably that they intergrade. in these sections. 

 O^isidering their close affinity, the latter view is the more reasonable. 



In the dusk of the evening of May 27, 190o. while encamped at 

 the Cascade Rapid, Athabaska River. I shot a fine specimen in a 

 small grove of po2:)lars. from one of which the animal had been 

 roused. It proved to be an adult female, and measured: Total 

 length, 332: tail vertebra?. 160: hind foot. 11. Compared with skins 

 from Xorway House and Hudson Bay. typical S. sah/ hius, it agrees 

 almost perfectly in color, differing only in the slightly paler tint 

 above. AVhile collecting at Fort Providence early in July, Alfred 

 E. Preble and Merritt Cary obtained another fine adult specimen, 

 a male, which measures 339. IT)!, 11. It is apparently typical of 

 this form and. matches almost perfectly the Cascade Rapid specimen. 

 The under side of the tail shows as much rufous as the most extreme 

 examples of aS. sabrinus, thus differing markedly from S. aJpinus. 

 In both of these specimens the upper surfaces of the hind feet are 

 brownish, relieved by a slight amount of Avhite on the toes. 



An imperfect specimen in the Xational ^Museum from Big Island 

 (Xo. C);>05) agrees closely in color with skins from Hudson Bay and 

 Xorway House. Another younger specimen from the same locality 

 (Xo. stVtV)? ^1^^ skull -of which can not be found, also is referable 

 to this form. Specimens from Big Island and Fort Resolution have 

 been recorded under the name Sciuropterus hudsonius by Allen,^ and 

 as S. sahrinus by Bangs. ^ In a recent article MacFarlane, on the au- 

 thority of Pierre Deschambeault. states that the flying squirrel is 

 not uncommon at Isle a la Crosse and at Lac du Brochet post [Rein- 

 deer Lake].*' The skeleton of a flying squirrel, now in fragments, 

 taken by MacFarlane at Fort Anderson, is also provisionally re- 

 ferred to this species, and shows that the animal probably ranges 

 to the limit of the forest. 



«AuD. Rept. Can. Geol. Surv.. VIIl' (neAv ser.), p. ]4D, 1S96. 



^ Monographs X. A. Rodentia, p. 664, 1877. 



c Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., X, p. 163, 1896. 



^ Proc. r. S. Xat. Mns., XXVIII, p. 749, 1905. 



