[58.] 2 . S ciurus (T amias) quadrivittatus. (Say.)
Four-banded Pouched Squirrel.
Sciurus quadrivittatus. S ay, Long's Exped., vol. ii. p. 349. (vol. ii. p. 45, Amer. Ed.) Harlan, Fauna, p. 180.
Four-lined squirrel. God m a n , Nat. Hist., yol. ii. p. 137.
Four-banded squirrel. Griffith, An. Kingd., vol. y. No. 665.
Sciurus (Tamias) quadrivittatus.' R ichardson, Zool. Journ., No. 12, p. 519, April, 1828.
Sassacka-wappiscoos. ‘ Cr.ee Indians.
Sc- Tamias (quadrivittatus), lineis quinque nigrescentibus cum quatuor albis alternantibus dorsumque totum occnpanti-
bus, lateribus ferrugineis, ventre cinereo, caudâ gracili elongatâ fuligneo spadiceoque varia,.
Four-banded pouched Squirrel, having: five blackish lines and four alternating white ones occupying the whole back ;
reddish-brown sides and gray under parts ; with a long slender tail exhibiting dusky and light-brown colours.
P late x v i .
This diminutive squirrel is common throughout the woody districts, as far north
as Great Slave Lake, if not farther. It is found at the south end of Lake Winipeg,
in latitude 5ff, and within that range it seems to replace the Sciurus Lysteri.
Mr. Say observed it on the Rocky Mountains near the, sources of the Arkansas and
Platte; and Mr. Drummond brought specimens from the sources of the Peace River,
which rises on the same ridge. It is an exceedingly active little animal, and very
industrious in storing up provision, being generally observed with its pouches full
of the seeds of leguminous plants, bents, and grasses. It is most common in dry
sandy spots, where there is much underwood, and is often seen in the summer
time sporting among the branches of willows and low bushes. It is a lively,
restless animal, troublesome to the hunter, and often provokes him to destroy it
by the angry chirrupping noise that it makes on his approach, and which is a
signal of alarm to the other inhabitants of the forest. During the winter it
resides in a burrow with several openings made at the root of a tree, and is never
seen on the surface of the snow at that season. When the snow disappears, many
small collections of hazel nut shells, from which the kernel has been extracted
by a minute hole gnawed in the side, are to be seen on the ground near its
holes. Mr. Say states its nest to be composed of an extraordinary quantity of
the burrs of xanthium, portions of the upright cactus, small branches of pine-trees,
and other vegetable productions, sufficient in some instances to fill a cart. On
the banks of the Saskatchewan the mouths of their burrows are not so protected.
The four-banded squirrel is, in common with the hackee, named Le Suisse by the
p l a t e , 16.
P u b lish e d , b j/ Joh n , M'zz.rray. Panzut*