Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 54

_Berdmore's Ground-Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim and Martaban.

DESCRIPTION.--General colour brownish, with a distinct rufous tinge on the middle of the back. It is punctulated with yellowish on the head, sides of face and body and outside of limbs, and with rich rufous on the middle of the back. An obscure narrow black line along the middle of the back from between the shoulders, but only extending half way down the trunk. On the sides of the back a yellow line from shoulder to articulation of femur; this is margined below with a broad black band, and above by an obscure dusky line. There is a broad pale yellow linear area below the former of these two dark bands, the portion of the side below it being concolorous with the thighs and fore-limbs. The rufous area of the back is confined between the two uppermost yellow lines; ears are large; all under-parts white, slightly washed here and there with yellowish; the tail moderately bushy, all the hairs annulated with four alternative orange and black bands, the terminal black band being occasionally tipped with white, and being as broad as the three remaining bands, so that the tail has a decidedly black tint washed with whitish, the orange bands, however, appearing through the black.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 7-3/4 inches; tail without hair, 5 inches.

NO. 295. SCIURUS QUINQUESTRIATUS.

_The Stripe-bellied Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Kakhyen hills, on the Burmo-Chinese frontier.

DESCRIPTION.--"Above grizzled olive, brownish-grey, with a distinct rufous tint, deepest on the dorsal surface; annulation fine, as in the grizzled squirrels generally; chin and throat obscurely grizzled greyish, washed with reddish; a rufous grizzled blackish-brown band from the chest along the middle line of the belly to the vent; external of this, on either side, a broad pure white well-defined band from the side to the chest along the belly and prolonged along the inguinal region to the vent; a broad black band from the hollow of the axilla along the side of the belly, expanding on the inside of the thighs, where it is faintly washed with greyish; inside of the fore-limbs blackish, washed with greyish; toes black, with rufous annulations. Tail nearly as long as the body and head, concolorous with body, but the black and rufous annulations much broader and more marked, a.s.suming the form of indistinct rufous and black rings on the posterior third; tip of tail jet black, narrowly terminated with greyish."--_Dr. J. Anderson_ in 'Proc. Zool. Soc.'

1871, p. 142.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 9-1/2 inches; tail, 7-1/4 inches.

This curious squirrel was first discovered and named by Dr. Anderson, who states that it was common at Ponsee on the Kakhyen range of hills east of Bhamo, at an elevation of from 2000 to 3000 feet, and as yet it has only been found on those hills. There is a coloured plate of it in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1871.

The next animal forms a curious link in resemblance between the Tupaiidae and the squirrels. I mentioned some time back that the first Tupaia was taken for a squirrel; and certainly, to look at this long-snouted squirrel, one might easily be misled into supposing it to be a Tupaia, till an examination of its dent.i.tion proved it to be a rodent. It is supposed to be a Malayan species, but I was shown not long ago a specimen in Mr. Hume's collection which I understood Mr. Davison to say he had procured in Burmah. It has been cla.s.sed by Dr. Gray in a separate genus, _Rhinosciurus_.

NO. 296. SCIURUS (RHINOSCIURUS) TUPAOIDES.

_The Long-nosed Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--The Malayan peninsula and Borneo, and I believe the Tena.s.serim provinces.

DESCRIPTION.--This animal differs from all other squirrels by the extreme length of its pointed muzzle, with which is a.s.sociated a long and narrow skull. The coloration varies from light to dark, and almost blackish-brown; the tail is shorter than the body, moderately bushy, narrow at the base, but expanding towards the tip; the hairs are broadly banded with four alternate pale and dark brown bands, the last being the darkest and broadest, with a pale tip; the under-parts are white in some, rich orange yellow in others.

SIZE.--Head and body, 7-1/2 inches; tail reaches to the eye.

The Flying Squirrels next engage our attention. In several groups of animals of strictly arboreal habits, nature has gone beyond the ordinary limits of agility afforded by muscular limbs alone, and has supplemented those limbs with elastic membranes which act like a parachute when the animal takes a leap into s.p.a.ce, and gives it a gradual and easy descent. Amongst the lemurs the _Galeopithecus_, the _Pteromys_ in the squirrels, and the _Anomalurus_ in another family of rodents, are all thus provided with the apparatus necessary to enable them to float awhile in the air, for flying is scarcely the proper term for the letting-down easy principle of the mechanism in question.

The flying squirrels, with which we have now to deal, are in general details the same as ordinary squirrels, but the skin of the flanks is extended between the fore and hind limbs, which, when spread out, stretches it into a wide parachute, increased in front by means of a bony spur which projects from the wrist. These animals have been subdivided into the large round-tailed flying squirrels, _Pteromys_, and the small flat-tailed flying squirrels, _Sciuropterus_. The distinction was primarily made by F. Cuvier on the character of the teeth, as he considered _Sciuropterus_ to have a less complex system of folds in the enamel of the molars, more like the ordinary squirrels than _Pteromys_; but modern research has proved that this is not a good ground for distinction. Dr. Anderson has lately examined the dent.i.tion in eleven species of _Pteromys_ and _Sciuropterus_, and he says: "According to my observations the form of the enamel folds in youth are essentially similar, consisting of a series of tubercular folds which are marked with wavy lines in some, and are smooth in others, but in all there is a marked conformity to a common type. The seemingly more complex character of the folds appears to depend on the extent to which the tubercular ridges are worn by use."

He also questions the propriety of the separation according to the distichous arrangement of the hairs of the tail. After a careful examination of the organ in nearly all the members of the series, he writes: "I have failed to detect that it is essentially distinctive of them--that is, that the distichous arrangement of the hairs is always a.s.sociated with a diminutive species; but at the same time there can be no doubt that it is more prevalent among such."

He then goes on to show that the tail is bushy in seventeen species, partially distichous in one, and wholly so in ten, and concludes by saying: "I am therefore disposed to regard the flying squirrels generally as const.i.tuting a well-defined generic group, the parallel of the genus _Sciurus_, which consists of an extensive series of specific forms distinguished by a remarkable uniformity of structure, both in their skulls and skeletons, and in the formations of their soft parts." There is a laudable tendency nowadays amongst mammalogists to reduce as far as possible the number of genera and species, and, acting on this principle, I will follow Dr. Anderson, and treat all the Indian flying squirrels under _Pteromys_.

_GENUS PTEROMYS_.

General anatomy that of the squirrel, except that the skin of the flanks is extended between the limbs in such a manner as to form a parachute when the fore and hind legs are stretched out in the act of springing from tree to tree.

NO. 297. PTEROMYS ORAL.

_The Brown Flying Squirrel_ (_Pteromys petaurista in Jerdon, No. 160_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Oral_ of the Coles; _Pakya_, Mahrathi; _Parachatea_, Malabarese; _Egala dandoleyna_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--India, wherever there are large forests; Ceylon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pteromys oral_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dusky maroon black grizzled with white; this effect being due to the ends of the hairs being white, tipped with a small black point.

The muzzle and around the eyes, and the feet are black; the limbs and side membrane a lighter rufous maroon; the male has an irregular rufous patch on the sides of the neck, according to Elliot, which in the female is a pale fawn colour; the tail is rather longer than the body, and very bushy; its terminal two-thirds or three-fourths are black or blackish--sometimes (rarely) a little white at the extreme tip; the under-parts are dingy brownish-grey or nearly white.

The female has six mammae--two pectoral and four ventral.

SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 21 inches; breadth of expanse, 21 to 24.

This species is nocturnal in its habits as noticed by Mr. Baker ('Journ. As. Soc. Beng.' 1859, vol. xxviii. p. 287), Jerdon and others.

Mr. Baker says it makes a noise at night in the depths of the jungle which is alarming to strangers. On the other hand Tickell, who was one of the first to bring it to notice, says its voice is seldom heard, and it is a weak, low, soft monotone quickly repeated, so low that in the same room you require to listen attentively to distinguish it. "It is to the Coles a sound ominous of domestic affliction. When angry the oral seldom bites, but scratches with its fore-claws, grunting at the same time like a guinea-pig." "When taken young it becomes a most engaging pet. It can be reared on goat's or cow's milk,[21] and in about three weeks will begin to nibble fruit of any kind. During the day it sleeps much, either sitting with its back bent into a circle, and its head thrust down to its belly, or lying on its back with the legs and parachute extended--a position it is fond of in sultry weather. During the night time it is incessantly on the move."

[Footnote 21: I advise half water in the case of cow's milk, or one quarter water with buffalo milk.--R. A. S.]

Jerdon says of it: "It frequents the loftiest trees in the thickest parts of the forest, and is quite nocturnal in its habits, usually making its appearance when quite dusk. The natives discover its whereabouts by noting the droppings beneath the trees it frequents.

It is said to keep in holes of trees during the day, and breeds in the same places. In the Wynaad many are killed, and a few captured alive by the Coorumbars, a jungle race of aborigines, who are usually employed to fell the forest trees in clearing for coffee; and I have had several sent to me alive, caught in this way, but could not keep them for any time. It lives chiefly on fruits of various kinds; also on bark, shoots, &c., and, Tickell says, occasionally on beetles and the larvae of insects."

Jerdon says he had several times witnessed the flight of this species from tree to tree, and on one occasion he noted a flight of over sixty yards.

"Of course it was very close to the ground when it neared the tree, and the last few feet of its flight were slightly upwards, which I have also noticed at other times." I think Wallace has observed the same of the _Galeopithecus_. How this upward motion is accomplished more careful investigation will show; in all probability the depression or elevation of the tail may cause a deviation from a fixed course. According to Elliot it is very gentle, timid, and may be tamed, but from its delicacy is difficult to preserve. The fur is soft, beautiful and much valued. Jerdon gives the localities in which he has found it to be most common: Malabar, Travancore (the Marquis of Tweeddale, according to Dr. Anderson, got a specimen from this locality of a much lighter colour than usual), the Bustar forests in Central India, Vindhian mountains near Mhow, the Northern Circars, and the Midnapore jungles.

NO. 298. PTEROMYS CINERACEUS.

_The Ashy Flying Squirrel_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Shau-byau_ in Arakan.

HABITAT.--a.s.sam, Burmah, viz. Arakan, Pegu and Tena.s.serim provinces.

DESCRIPTION.--Very like the last, but with a greyish fur, and almost white tail, with a black tip.

The fur generally is a mixture of pale grey and brownish, the hairs of the head and back having a whitish sub-terminal band; the tail consists almost entirely of the greyish hairs; the parachute is reddish brown; the under-parts white. Blyth, however, mentions a specimen from Tena.s.serim which is unusually rufous, with the tail concolorous with the upper parts.

SIZE.--Same as the last.

It is open to question whether this is not identical with _Pteromys oral_, merely a local variety. Blyth so termed it; and from what Dr.

Anderson has written on the subject, I gather that he, too, inclines to the same opinion, as he says: "The dimensions are the same as those of _P. oral_, Tickell, of which it will probably prove to be a local race."

NO. 299. PTEROMYS YUNNANENSIS.

_The Yunnan Flying Squirrel_.

HABITAT.--Kananzan mountains; Burmo-Chinese frontier.