Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 52

The difficulty in laying down precise rules for colouring is here evident, but in general I may say that the upper parts are rufescent olive brown, the hair being grizzled or banded black and yellow, commencing with greyish-black at the base, then yellow, black, yellow with a dark brown or black tip; the lower parts are rufous h.o.a.ry or grey, tinged with rufous, or the latter shade may be restricted to the groin or inguinal parts. The fur is coa.r.s.er and more broadly ringed than in _S. lokriah_, and the ventral surface is never tinged with orange, as in that species; the tail is concolorous with the back; the hair more coa.r.s.ely annulated; there is no white tuft behind the ears, as in the last species.

SIZE.--About the same as the last, or Dr. Anderson says: "In the form referable to _S. Blythii_, a white spot occurs on the inguinal region of the thigh in the position in which the rufous of the so-called red-legged squirrels is developed. The groin in some of these squirrels shows also a decided rufous tinge, while the remainder of the belly is sullied grey white. If these forms were without the white thigh-spot, they would exactly conform to the type of _S. a.s.samensis_.

A squirrel in the British Museum, labelled _S. Tytleri_ (Verreau, 'Indes Orientales'), agrees with _S. Blythii_" ('A. and Z. Res.', p. 249).

Blyth has seen a squirrel of this species renewing its coat, and a.s.suming a variegated appearance during its transition to the breeding dress.

A jet-black squirrel of the same proportion occurs in Sylhet and Cachar, which Dr. Anderson is inclined to think belongs also to this species.

We may, therefore, regard the following as being the same as _S.

lokroides_, viz., _S. a.s.samensis_, _S. Blythii_, _S. similis_, and the black one, which has apparently not been named.

Jerdon states that these squirrels are mostly seen in the autumn when the chestnuts, of which they are very fond, ripen.

NO. 279. SCIURUS PYGERYTHRUS.

HABITAT.--Burmah (Lower Pegu, and common in the neighbourhood of Rangoon).

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark olive grey; basal third of the tail concolorous with the back, its latter two-thirds ringed olive-yellow and black; the tip black; feet olive grey, sometimes washed with yellowish; under surface and inside of limbs orange yellow, which extends also along the middle of the under part of the tail. Paler varieties occur. The skull of this species is smaller than those of _S. caniceps_, _S. Phayrei_ and _S. Blanfordii_.

NO. 280. SCIURUS CANICEPS.

_The Golden-backed Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Burmah (Upper Tena.s.serim and Tavoy).

DESCRIPTION.--General colour grey or fulvous above; limbs outside grizzled grey; feet yellowish-grey; in some cases the nape, shoulders, and upper parts of back are vivid light ferruginous or golden fulvous, sometimes extending downwards on to the base of the tail. Some have only a trace of this colouring, others none at all.

There is infinite variety of colouring in this species, as I observed in my remarks on the genus, and it is closely allied to the next three, if they do not ultimately prove to be the same.

"Out of a large series of specimens referable to _S. caniceps_, the males ill.u.s.trate three phases of colouring, a.s.sociated with a difference in the character of the fur. The first is a grey, the second a yellowish, and the third a phase in which the back becomes brilliant yellowish-red."--_Anderson_.

NO. 281. SCIURUS PHAYREI.

_The Laterally-banded or Phayre's Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Burmah. Common in Martaban; has also been obtained at Tounghu.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark olive grey; lower parts rich orange red; the same colour being more or less continued along the under surface of the tail; the orange colour extends over the inside of the limbs, the front of the thigh and on the feet; the fore-limbs are dusky outside, with pale rufous yellow feet. Its chief distinguis.h.i.+ng mark is a brown well-defined dark band on the flanks between the colour of the upper and lower parts.

NO. 282. SCIURUS BLANFORDII.

_Blanford's Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Upper Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--Pale grey above, finely punctulated with black and grey; tail concolorous, with a black tip; under parts pale orange yellow; hands and feet yellow. Dr. Anderson shot a female at Pudeepyo, in the beginning of January, which had a distinct tendency to the formation of a dusky lateral stripe, as in the last species; the under-parts also were much more rich orange than in the type of this species. In the grey phase of _S. caniceps_ that species is so like _S. Blanfordii_ in the colouring of the upper parts and feet that it is almost impossible to distinguish them, but, according to Dr.

Anderson, "on examining the under parts it is found that in these phases of _S. caniceps_ they are grey, whereas in _S. Blanfordii_ they are a beautiful rich orange, and the feet are yellow."

Before proceeding to the next species, which is a better marked one, I will quote one more pa.s.sage from Dr. Anderson's careful comparison of the four preceding squirrels. "_S. Phayrei_ corresponds in the colour of the upper fur to the yellow phase of _S. caniceps_, and the tail is the same as in it, having a black tip, which is the character also that that appendage has in _S. pygerythrus_. In some examples of _S. Phayrei_ the dusky or blackish is not confined to the lateral line, but extends over the outside of the fore-limbs, the feet being always yellow in squirrels presenting these characters. Some specimens of _S. pygerythrus_ show a distinct tendency to have yellow feet, and further research will probably prove _S. Phayrei_ to be only a variety of _S. pygerythrus_. When Blyth first encountered this form, he simply regarded it as a variety of _S. pygerythrus_, and I believe his first opinion will be ultimately found to be more in accordance with the real interpretation of the facts than the conclusion he afterwards adopted. In the Paris Museum there is an example of _S. Blanfordii_ from Upper Burmah which distinctly shows a dark lateral streak, so that, taking into consideration the other examples to which I have already referred, there seems to be a presumption that it and _S.

Phayrei_ are one and the same species, and that they are probably identical with _S. pygerythrus_; moreover, my impression is that a more extensive series will establish their ident.i.ty with _S.

caniceps_. This view of the question is also supported by a small series of these squirrels in the Leyden Museum from Tounghu in Upper Burmah, presented by the Marquis of Tweeddale. From the characters manifested by these squirrels, and the circ.u.mstances that they were all shot in one locality, they are of great interest. One is an adult, and in its upper parts it exactly resembles _S. Blanfordii_, also in its yellow feet and black tip to its tail, but, like _S. Phayrei_, it has a broad blackish-brown lateral stripe. The others are smaller, and resemble the foregoing specimens in all their characters, except that they have no dark lateral streak, and that the feet of two are concolorous with the upper parts, while in the remaining squirrel the feet appear to be changing to yellow, as in the adult. The two former of these, therefore, conform to the type of _S. pygerythrus_, but the fur of the upper parts is greyer and not so richly coloured as in it, but the annulation of the fur has the same character in both. The remaining specimen in its features is distinctly referable to _S. Blanfordii_" ('Anat. and Zool. Researches,' p. 232).

NO. 283. SCIURUS ATRODORSALIS.

_The Black-backed Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Burmah and the Malayan countries. Common in Martaban.

DESCRIPTION.--There are two phases of colouring, in which both old and young of this species are found: with the black on the back, and again without it. In the latter case the upper parts and feet are a yellowish-rufous. The upper surface of the head, as far back as to include the ears, orange red; under parts and inside of limbs more or less chestnut; under surface of neck orange yellow, with a centre line of the same on the chest; tail variable--in the young it has seven alternate orange and black bands, the orange being terminal; but the adults have sometimes only five bands, the apical one so broad as to make a rich orange tail with yellowish-white tipped hair. In those with black backs the colour of the upper fur is less fulvous, and the chestnut of the lower parts is darker; in some the tail has broad orange tipped hairs, whilst in others it is, with the exception of the base, wholly black, and not annulated. These differences in colouring are not s.e.xual, nor due to age. The skull of _S.

atrodorsalis_ resembles that of _S. caniceps_, but is broader, with a somewhat shorter muzzle, has smaller teeth, and would appear to be, from comparisons made by Dr. Anderson, smaller.

NO. 284. SCIURUS ERYTHRAEUS.

_The a.s.sam Red-bellied Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--a.s.sam, Garo hills, Munipur.

DESCRIPTION.--The upper parts glistening deep reddish-black, minutely grizzled with light fulvous or yellowish-brown, each hair having two annulations; under parts and inside of limbs dark reddish maroon; feet black; tail concolorous with the back from the basal third, then gradually less grizzled; the terminal half black; whiskers black. Pallas describes the black of the tail as pa.s.sing upwards in a mesial line.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 9 to 10 inches; tail with hair, from 11 to 12 inches.

NO. 285. SCIURUS GORDONI.

_Gordon's Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Upper Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--Dr. Anderson, who first named this species, describes it as follows: "_S. Gordoni_ has the upper surface and a narrow line from between the fore-limbs along the middle of the body grizzled olive-brown or greyish, with a variable rufous tint; the annulations are not so fine as in _S. erythraeus_. The chin and sides of the throat are paler grizzled than on the back and the lower part of the throat; the chest, belly, and inside of the limbs are either pale yellow or rich orange-yellow, or pa.s.sing into pale chestnut in the a.s.sam variety, in which the belly is rarely lineated. The ears are feebly pencilled; the tail has the same proportion as in _S. erythraeus_ and _S. castaneoventris_[20] but it is more persistently and uniformly concolorous with the body than in these species, and is finely ringed with black and yellow, the rings being most distinct on the latter fourth; the tip is generally washed with orange yellow"

('Anat. and Zool. Res.').

[Footnote 20: A Chinese species: Western China, Formosa and Hainau.--R. A. S.]

SIZE.--Head and body, 9 inches; tail, 7 inches.

NO. 286. SCIURUS HIPPURUS.

_The Chestnut-bellied a.s.sam Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--a.s.sam; also in the Malayan peninsula.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts of the body, with base of tail yellowish-rufous, punctulated with yellow and black; the lower parts deep ruddy ferruginous or chestnut; feet, tail (which is bushy) and whiskers black.

Dr. Anderson, however, mentions several varieties. He writes: "The specimen in the British Museum referred by Dr. Gray to _S.

rufogaster_, var. _Borneoensis_ differs from Malayan specimens in having portions of the upper parts unannulated and of a deep rich chestnut, which embraces the upper surface of the base of the tail, and is concolorous with the chestnut of the under parts. This, however, is evidently not a persistent form, because I have seen a specimen from the same island in which the red portion of the upper parts is grizzled and much of the same tint as Malayan individuals, except in the mesial line of the neck and back, where the colour is rich red-brown extending along the dorsum of the tail for about three inches.

"Muller and Schlegel mention a variety that I have not seen, and of which they state that the red colour of the under parts extends to the heel, the forefoot and the toes, while the colour of the upper parts pa.s.ses into a uniform l.u.s.trous black. They also remark, however, that the back not unfrequently a.s.sumes a pale yellowish brown tint"

('Anat. and Zool. Res.' p. 242).