Blackie of the Tree Tops 
Is the Black Squirrel a Distinct Species or Merely a Color Variant 
HE greatest hunting prize in 
this. section of New York 
State is, beyond doubt, the 
black squirrel. Of course, there 
are young fellows who dream their 
hunting dreams of a black fox and 
consequent fortune, but inasmuch 
as no one in these parts ever saw a 
black fox, or even hopes to see one, 
the gold medal of rarity goes to 
this black dweller of the tree tops. 
I don’t count in this the furbearers, 
there still being a few otter and 
fisher and marten in the Catkills. 
An otter was killed here at Scho- 
harie last fall. A fisher was 
trapped to the south last winter. But 
a black squirrel, that inky, sooty bit 
of animated treetop life, that is a prize 
indeed. One was shot here two years 
ago, and another was seen. None were 
reported last fall, although an albino 
grey squirrel was killed. 
There seems to be a great deal of 
mystery about the black squirrel. It is 
black not because of misdeeds, not 
figuratively speaking as having fallen 
from grace, for this beautiful little 
squirrel, shy and loving seclusion, is the 
most innocent and harmless of animals. 
It is just glossy black all over the out- 
side like a fur cap! 
There are even some people who do 
not believe there are any black squir- 
rels at all. I can show them one— 
stuffed! 
Others insist that the black squirrel 
is merely a freak, like black wood- 
chucks and black foxes. 
I wonder, 
And still others, earlier more than 
now, believe the black squirrel to be 
a separate species, distinct from the 
grey squirrel family, or the fox family, 
or the red chickaree. 
ET’S present the evidence in the 
case and draw our own conclusions: 
The Natural History of the State of 
New York, published by the state in 
1842, lists the black squirrel as a mem- 
ber of the family sciuridae, or as a 
distinct and separate species. 
At the present hour the State, and 
most of our naturalists, say there ”ain’t 
no such animal!” They insist that the 
black squirrel, once so common but now 
searce in this section, is merely a color 
variant of the common grey squirrel. 
Maybe so—but I, for one, don’t be- 
Page 589 
of the Grey Rodent ? 

Scientists say that the black squirrel is a 
melanistic form of this animal 
lieve it! Novel as it may seem, and re- 
quiring no end of moral courage (there 
being no law requiring sportsmen to 
believe anything nor to make them 
agree with naturalists), I think that 
the black squirrel is a separate family 
group. Second-hand book stores, even 
libraries, are burdened with natural 
history books which we now know to be 
as full of errors as our first income tax 
reports. Not all of the magazine ani- 
mal stories are authentic. And, seems 
to me, I remember a loud snort from 
Washington, years ago, wherein was 
the new expression, “nature-fakirs.” 
Howsoever, here is the evidence, and 
let the fur fall where it will! 
‘THE State Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission in one of its reports 
says, “the black squirrel is merely a 
color variant of the grey, and is often 
found in the same nest.” 
That ought to settle it, but—in that 
very same report—is a quotation from 
Munroe’s early history of a county in 
western New York which upsets the 
whole kettle of fish by saying that 
squirrels were so thick out there in 
the year 1764 that organized hunts 
were necessary to save the grain fields. 
As many as 2,000 squirrels were killed 
in that county alone in a single day 
and, “the blacks and greys were most 
common, the grey color being most 
scarce!” 
Ahem! 
Something funny about that, isn’t 
there? A couple of thousand squirrels, 
half of them, let us say, black squirrels 
and now and then a grey squirrel. 
Seems as though, at that time, grey 
squirrels were but color variants of the 
black, hey? And often found in the 
same nests, what? 
By DON CAMERON SHAFER 
But let’s see what Mr. DeWitt 
Clinton has to say. You remember 
Dewitt, sometime governor of the 
state, and a truthful and honorable 
man (though no squirrel hunter), 
so we can accept his statements as 
fact. In his journal so faithfully 
kept when he journeyed across this 
state more than a hundred years 
ago, looking over the site for the 
proposed Erie Canal, Governor 
Clinton makes several references to 
the number of black squirrels he 
saw along the way. We read in 
this journal: 
“The only animals seen on our 
trip from Albany to Rome were black 
squirrels and hares.” 
E did not see a grey squirrel, not 
even a red one. Lots of black 
ones though. Now if these black 
squirrels were only color variants of 
the grey, where were their papas and 
mamas that Dewitt didn’t see them? 
Clinton also says: 
“Black is the color of the squirrels 
in this western country, you see few 
grey ones.” 
Where is our color variant theory 
now? Conditions just the reverse of 
what they are to-day—lots of black 
squirrels, but few grey ones. Then, 
perhaps, the squirrel hunter’s pride in 
western New York was to shoot a grey 
squirrel! 
One thing is certain, borne out by 
this evidence: the black squirrel, once 
so common in this,state, is now rare and 
almost extinct in most sections. This 
species (if it is a species) never had 
a very extensive range. It is found 
throughout New York state, parts of 
New England and a ways into Penn- 
sylvania. 
It is all very puzzling to read upon 
authority that the black squirrel is 
nothing more than a grey squirrel 
which has had the misfortune to fall 
into the tar barrel when your own eyes, 
if ever you are lucky enough to shoot 
one, will tell you that this rare speci- 
men does not even look like a grey squir- 
rel, not in shape, pelage, whiskers, tail 
—or anything, except its kind de- 
meanor. I never saw one as large as 
the greys we have here. Evidently as 
soon as the color scheme is established 
they become runted! 
(Continued on page 631) 
