Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 51

_The Bombay Squirrel of Pennant_ (_Sciurus Malabaricus and S. Elphinstonei in Jerdon, Nos. 148 and 150_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Jangli-gilheri_, Hindi; _Shekra_, Mahrathi; _Kesannalu_, Canarese of the Halapyks.

HABITAT.--The dense forests of the Western Ghats, but extending easterly as far as Midnapore and Cuttack.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper surface of body dark maroon red, lower part of back and rump and upper portions of limbs and the whole of the tail black, the latter ending in a broad brownish-yellow tip; the outside of the hind-legs and half-way down the outside of the fore-legs a uniform rich maroon red; the under parts from chin to vent, inside of limbs, lower part of fore-legs, the inter-aural region and the cheeks bright orange yellow; forehead and nose reddish-brown, with white hairs interspersed; ears small and tufted; a narrow maroon line from the anterior angle of the ear extends downwards to the side of the neck, with a yellow line behind it; whiskers and bristles black.

Dr. Anderson also remarks on the skull of this species that it is considerably smaller than that of _S. maximus_, and has a narrower and less concave inter-orbital s.p.a.ce; the nasals are also broader posteriorly, and less dilated anteriorly, the upper dental line being also shorter.

SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, 15-1/4 inches.

Jerdon's description of this animal is taken _verbatim_ from Sykes, who named it after the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, under the impression that it was a new species, but it is apparently the same as _S. Indicus_ of Erxleben and _S. Malabaricus_ of Schinz.

NO. 274. SCIURUS MAXIMUS.

_The Central Indian Red Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 149_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Kat-berral_, Bengali; _Karat_, Hindi; _Rasu_ and _Ratuphar_ at Monghyr, according to Hamilton; _Kondeng_ of the Coles; _Per-warsti_, Gondi; _Bet-udata_, Telegu; _Shekra_, Mahrathi.

HABITAT.--Malabar coast, Central India, and, according to Dr.

F. B. Hamilton, the hills about Monghyr, whence doubtless the Calcutta market is supplied. Hodgson records it from the Himalayan Terai.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sciurus maximus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"The upper surface and the sides of the neck, the shoulders, and the outside of the fore-limbs, the lumbar and sacral regions, the outside of the thighs and the tail are black, the black of the hind-quarters being prolonged forwards along the mesial line towards the black of the shoulders; a large dark maroon spot on the vertex, separated from the maroon of the nape by yellowish inter-aural area, which extends downwards and forwards to the cheeks; a maroon-coloured line pa.s.ses downward from the front of the ear, with a yellow area behind it. The sides of the face and muzzle are pale yellowish, the latter being flesh-coloured; the other portions of the trunk and the lower half of the tibial portion of the hind limbs are maroon. The tail is either black or maroon black, sometimes tipped with yellowish brown. The whole of the under-parts and inside of the limbs and the hands and feet are rich yellowish; the ears strongly maroon and tufted" (_Dr. Anderson_). Jerdon's description of this animal is very meagre and doubtful.

SIZE.--About the same as the last.

This squirrel was tolerably common in the forests of Seonee, and we had one or two in confinement. One belonging to my brother-in-law was so tame as to allow of any amount of bullying by his children, who used to pull it about as though it were a puppy or kitten, but I have known others to bite severely and resent any freedom.

NO. 275. SCIURUS MACROURUS.

_The Long-tailed Forest Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 152_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Rookeeah_ or _Dandoleyna_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--Ceylon, Southern India, i.e. Malabar, Travancore, Mysore, Neilgherries.

DESCRIPTION.--"Fur of the upper parts coa.r.s.e and slightly waved; above, the colour varies from maroon-black to rufous brown; hairs sometimes grizzled and tipped white or pale yellow, particularly on the croup, sides, and upper parts of limbs; crown of the head darker in most specimens than other parts; cheeks, under-parts, and lower two-thirds of limbs of a fulvous white; occiput of a deeper fulvous, sometimes yellow or ferruginous brown; an indistinct dark spot on the cheek, which is sometimes absent; two-thirds or more of the basal portion of the tail black or brown; the rest grizzled grey or fulvous.

In some the hairs of the whole tail are tipped white, and in others grizzled white throughout. In the young there is very little of brown or black; the whole tail is more or less formed of grey hairs, and the terminal third is nearly white. Grey is also the prevailing colour on the posterior half of the body; toes in all black or blackish brown; ears hairy, only slightly tufted in adults."--_Kellaart_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 13-1/2 inches; tail, 11 inches.

This squirrel also varies greatly in colouring, and has led several naturalists astray. Kellaart, in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae,'

says he has seen them in a transition state from dark brown to grizzled grey.

NO. 276. SCIURUS GIGANTEUS.

_The Black Hill Squirrel_ (_Sciurus macrouroides in Jerdon, No.

151_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Shingsham_, Bhotia; _Le-hyuk_, Lepcha; _Jelarang_, Javanese; _Chingkrawah-etam_, Malay; _Leng-thet_, in Arakan; _Sheu_, in Tena.s.serim.

HABITAT.--North-west Himalayas to a.s.sam, the Garo hills, Sylhet, and Cachar, spreading from Northern a.s.sam across to Yunnan, and through Arakan and Tena.s.serim on to the Malayan peninsula and Borneo.

DESCRIPTION.--"This species has well-tufted ears; the upper surface is either wholly black or reddish-brown, without any trace of white; the tail is generally jet black, also the outside of the fore and hind limbs, and the upper surface of the feet; an elongated black spot is almost invariably found below the eye from beyond the moustache, and the eye is encircled with black. There are generally two black spots on the under surface of the chin; the under parts and the inside of the limbs vary from pale yellowish-white to a rich rufous orange; the basal portion of the hairs of the under-parts is dark brown or black, and the ventral area has frequently a dull hue where the yellow tips are spa.r.s.e; the coats of these squirrels are generally sleek, glossy and deep black, and while in this condition the under surface is most brilliant, especially at its line of junction with the black, along the sides of the body and limbs, tending to form a kind of bright band.

"In some the upper parts have a brownish hue, but this is not characteristic of any particular locality, as two individuals, one from Nepal and the other from Borneo, are equally brown. While the fur is of this colour it is long and coa.r.s.e, and the under-parts are less brilliant. These phases are probably seasonal, and connected with the breeding period."--_Anderson_.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 15 inches; tail, about 16 inches.

The next group consists of squirrels of medium size with grizzled fur, as Jerdon remarks of the two species he mentions; but with the rich fields of Burmah and a.s.sam we can swell our list to over a dozen.

It is doubtful whether one or two of the named species are not varieties of one and the same, so nearly are they allied, but this remains to be proved.

NO. 277. SCIURUS LOKRIAH.

_The Orange-bellied Grey Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 153_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Lokriah_, Nepalese; _Zhamo_, Bhotia, _Killi_, or _Kalli-tingdong_, Lepcha (_Jerdon_).

HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, a.s.sam (Khasia Hills), and Burmah (Arakan).

DESCRIPTION.--A deep ferruginous olive-brown, the hairs tipped with orange, soft and silky; the under-parts from chin to vent and the outside of the thighs a rich orange; the tail is shorter than that of the next species, concolorous with the body above, but the banding of the hair is coa.r.s.er, the apical black band being very broad, tipped with orange or white, generally the latter, the general hue being blackish washed with orange or white. In some the general hue is orange brown with obscure annuli; the arrangement of the hair is distichous or in two rows.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 8 inches; tail, 6-1/2 to 8 inches, including hair.

There is some confusion between this and the next species, _S.

lokroides_, and the distinctive characteristics quoted by Jerdon and others, founded on colouring alone, are not to be depended upon, for colouring varies, but there is considerable difference in the skulls of the two, _S. lokriah_ having a smaller skull, with distinct peculiarities. The inter-orbital portion of the skull is narrower anteriorly and posteriorly, and the muzzle is narrow at the base, and of nearly equal breadth throughout. The nasals are long and narrow, and reach further back than in _S. lokroides_. These points, which are brought forward by Dr. Anderson, are sufficient to indicate that they are quite distinct species. As regards colouring _S.

lokriah_ has normally red thighs, but even this is absent at times.

Dr. Anderson says: "It is much more richly coloured than _S.

lokroides_, with no rufous even on the thighs, and with generally a tuft of pure white hair behind the ear, by which it can be recognised, as it occurs in twenty instances out of twenty-five, and even when absent the hairs in that locality have a paler colour. As this whitish tuft lies backwards, it is only seen when the ear is carefully examined."

NO. 278. SCIURUS LOKROIDES.

_The h.o.a.ry-bellied Grey Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 154_).

HABITAT.--In the lower ranges of the South-eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Sikim, a.s.sam, Tipperah and Arakan.

DESCRIPTION.--This is a most difficult species to describe. Dr.

Anderson writes: "I have before me sixty-two examples of various squirrels which have been referred to _S. lokroides_, _S.

a.s.samensis_ and _S. Blythii_ by Hodgson, M'Clelland and Tytler, also the types of _S. similis_ (Gray), which were forwarded to the British Museum as _S. lokroides_ by Hodgson. After a careful consideration of these materials, they appear to me to be referable to one species.

Hodgson, who first described it, referred to it all those Himalayan squirrels slightly larger than _S. lokriah_, and which had the ventral surface either pale whitish or slightly washed with rufous, the sides also being sometimes suffused with this tinge especially on the anterior half of the thigh, which in many is bright orange red; but this colour is variable, and many squirrels have this portion of the body white, of which _S. Blythii_ is an example; and others similar to it are before me from Bhutan and a.s.sam which do not differ from _S. lokroides_ except in the presence of this white area, which is evidently only a variation on the red area, and probably a seasonal change, as many show merely a faint rufous tinge in the inguinal region, that colour being entirely absent on the outside of the thigh.

"It is, however, worthy of note that those squirrels which have a rufous tinge in the inguinal region rarely, if ever, have the outside of the thigh bright red, and that the squirrels distinguished by white on their thighs are from Bhutan, a.s.sam, and the Garo hills.

But I do not see that these latter differ in any other respect from the squirrels sent by Hodgson as specimens of _S. lokroides_, with and without red thighs. Moreover, one of Hodgson's specimens of _S.

lokroides_ shows a tendency in the thigh to become white" ('Anat.

and Zool. Researches,' pp. 247, 248).