236 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[no. 27. 



are similar, bordered and lined with creani}^ white; the chin and 

 cheeks are grajdsh brown. An area along the middle of the back is 

 dark brown, the fur there being rather short and apparently worn. 

 Beneath this a fine yellowish-brown fur is visible, evidently the win- 

 ter coat coming in. This last prevails on the sides and is there inter- 

 spersed with longer brown-tipped hairs. The lower parts are dark 

 yellowish brown, the throat patch bright orange, the feet and legs 

 dusky brown. The tail is dark brown with a few yellowish hairs 

 intermixed. A younger animal, evidenth^ a young one of the year, 

 taken near Leith Point on the same date, is colored beneath and on 

 the legs as in the adult, but the fur is shorter and has the appearance 

 of immaturit3\ The back is covered with short, stiff, dusk}^ hair 

 underlaid with yellowish-brown fur, evidently the winter fur coming 

 in. This is most conspicuous on the sides. The face and chin are 

 dusky brown, slightly lighter on the cheeks than elsewhere; ears 

 dusky broT^ n, bordered with yellowish white. The tail is dark brown 

 mixed with yellowish brown, with the hair much shorter than in the 

 adult. A male, fully grown and at least in its second year, taken at 

 Fort Franklin, September 23, 1903, is in nearly complete winter pel- 

 age. The fur is soft and about an inch in length, but is evidently not 

 fully .grown. It is yellowish brown above, flecked with longer brown- 

 ish Imirs, which are most numerous on the back. The head, chin, and 

 cheeks are grayish drab, darkening on the nose ; outside of ears con- 

 color with the head and bordered with creamy white. The legs, feet, 

 and tail are dusky brown, the latter darker at tip. Color beneath 

 slightly darker than on back and sides; throat ^^ellowish brown, but 

 the throat patch practically wanting. 



A series of skins in the National Museum, taken at Fort McPher- 

 son by Robert Kennicott, shows considerable variation in color, but 

 in general the skins agree with the Fort Franklin specimen just 

 described. Some of them are accompanied by skulls, which form a 

 part of a large series from that place. This series agrees exactly with 

 the tyjDe series of J/, a. actuosa from Fort Yukon, Alaska. 



Through the kindness of D. G. Elliot, of the Field Columbian 

 Museum, Chicago, I have been enabled to compare the type and two 

 topotypes of Mustela horia^ recently described by him from the lower 

 Mackenzie, with my specimens, and with the large series from Fort 

 McPherson and Fort Yukon. The specimens of J/, hor^ia vary 

 slightly in color among themselves, but in general are a dark umber 

 brown. ^^Tiile they are darker than the ordinary type of color in 

 this region, they agree precisel}^ with several picked winter skins now 

 in my possession which were taken near Fort McPherson. They 

 represent the dark phase of color which this animal exhibits through- 

 out its range. The type of M. horia is closely matched in color also 

 by a specimen in the Biological Survey collection taken near Fort 



