Audubon's Mammals/MAMMALS1_3.BIN/dp/0001/00013.txt

Text File | 1992-08-25 | 23KB | 359 lines

$Unique_ID{QAD00013}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Carolina Gray Squirrel     (Gray Squirrel)}
$Subject{Carolina Gray Squirrel     (Gray Squirrel); Sciurus; Carolinensis; audio}
$Journal{Quadrupeds of America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 1:55-63}
$Genus{Sciurus}
$Species{Carolinensis}
$Common_Name{Carolina Gray Squirrel}
$Log{
Plate VII*00013P1.scf,44290025.aud
Audio*44290025.aud
Genus*00011.txt
}

               (C) (P) Library of Natural Sounds 1990-91, 1992,
                              All rights reserved.
       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       A U D U B O N ' S   M A M M A L S

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. S., &c. &c.

                                      AND

                     The Rev. John Bachman, D. D., &c. &c.

                  -------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  I.
                        --------------------------------


                          SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS.--GMEL.
                             [Sciurus carolinensis]

                            CAROLINA GRAY SQUIRREL.
                                [Gray Squirrel]

                          PLATE VII.--MALE AND FEMALE.


     S. griseus supra, subtus albus, colorem haud mutaris, S. migratorii, minor.
Cauda corpore breviore, S. migratorii angustiore.


                                  CHARACTERS.

     Smaller than the Northern Gray Squirrel, (Sciurus Migratorius,) tail
narrower than in that species, and shorter than the body; above, rusty gray;
beneath, white; does not vary in colour.


                                   SYNONYMES.

     ECUREUIL GRIS DE LA CAROLINE, Bosc., vol. ii., p. 96, pl. 29.
     SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS, Bach., Monog., Proceedings Zool. Soc., London,
       August, 1838, Mag., Nat. Hist., 1839, p. 113.


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     This species, which has been many years known, and frequently described,
has been always considered by authors as identical with the Gray Squirrel of the
Northern States (Sciurus migratorius).  There are, however, so many marked
differences in size, colour and habit, that any student of nature can easily
perceive the distinction between these two allied species.
     Head shorter, and space between the ears proportionately broader than
between those of the Northern Gray Squirrel; nose sharper than in that animal.
Small anterior molar in the upper jaw permanent, (as we have invariably found it
to exist in all the specimens we have examined;) it is considerably larger than
in S. migratorius, and all our specimens which give indications of the
individual having been more than a year old when killed, instead of having a
small, thread-like, single tooth, as in the latter species, have a distinct
double tooth with a double crown.  The other molars are not much unlike those of
S. migratorius in form, but are shorter and smaller, the upper incisors being
nearly a third shorter.  Body, shorter and less elegant in shape, and not
indicating the quickness and vivacity by which S. migratorius is eminently
distinguished.
     The ears, which are nearly triangular, are so slightly clothed with hair on
their interior surfaces, that they may be said to be nearly naked; externally
they are sparsely clothed with short woolly hair, which however does not extend
as far beyond the margins as in other species.  Nails shorter and less crooked;
tail shorter, and without the broad distichous appearance of that of the
Northern Gray Squirrel.


                                    COLOUR.

     Teeth, light orange; nails, brown, lightest at the extremities; whiskers,
black; on the nose and cheeks, and around the eyes, a slight tinge of rufous
gray.
     Fur on the back, for three-fourths of its length, dark plumbeous, succeeded
by a slight indication of black, edged with yellowish-brown in some of the
hairs, giving it on the surface a dark grayish-yellow tint.  In a few specimens
there is an obscure shade of light brown along the sides, where the yellowish
tint predominates, and a tinge of this colour is observable on the upper surface
of the fore-legs, above the knees.  Feet, light gray; tail, for three-fourths of
its length from the root yellowish-brown; the remainder black, edged with white;
throat inner surface of the legs and belly, white.
     This species does not run into varieties, as do the Northern Gray Squirrel
and the Black Squirrel; the specimens received from Alabama, Florida and
Louisiana, scarcely present a shade of difference from those existing in South
Carolina, which we have just described.


                                  DIMENSIONS.

                                                             Inches.

     Length of head and body .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   9 1/2
     Length of tail (vertebrae,).  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   7 1/3
     Length of tail to end of hair .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   9 1/2
     Height of ear  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1/2
     Palm to end of middle claws.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   1 1/4
     Heel to end of middle nail .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   2 1/2
     Length of fur on the back  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1/2
     Breadth of tail (with hair extended).  .  .  .  .  .  .   3


                                    HABITS.

     This species differs as much in its habits from the Northern Gray Squirrel
as it does in form and colour.  From an intimate acquaintance with the habits of
the latter, we are particularly impressed with the peculiarities of the present
species.  Its bark has not the depth of tone of that of the Northern species,
and is more shrill and querulous.  Instead of mounting high on the tree when
alarmed, which the latter always does, the Sc. Carolinensis generally plays
round the trunk, and on the side opposite to the observer, at a height of some
twenty or thirty feet, often concealing itself beneath the Spanish moss
(Tillandsia Usneoides) which hangs about the tree.  When a person who has
alarmed one of these Squirrels remains quiet for a few moments, it descends a
few feet and seats itself on the first convenient branch, in order the better to
observe his movements.
     It is, however, capable of climbing to the extremity of the branches and
leaping from tree to tree with great agility, but is less wild than the Northern
species, and is almost as easily approached as the chickaree, (Sc. Hudsonius.)
One who is desirous of obtaining a specimen, has only to take a seat for half an
hour in any of the swamps of Carolina and he will be surprised at the immense
number of these squirrels that may be seen running along the logs or leaping
among the surrounding trees.  A great many are killed, and their flesh is both
juicy and tender.
     The Carolina Gray Squirrel is sometimes seen on high grounds among the oak
and hickory trees, although its usual haunts are low swampy places or trees
overhanging streams or growing near the margin of some river.  In deep cypress
swamps covered in many places with several feet of water during the whole year,
it takes up its constant residence, moving among the entwined branches of the
dense forest with great facility.  Its hole in such situations may sometimes be
found in the trunk of a decayed cypress.  On the large tupelo trees, (Nyssa
aquatica,) which are found in the swamps, many nests of this species, composed
principally of Spanish moss and leaves, are every where to be seen.  In these
nests, or in some woodpecker's hole, they produce their young.  These are five
or six in number, and are brought forth in March; it is well ascertained also
that the female litters a second time in the season, probably about mid-summer.
     This species has one peculiarity which we have not observed in any other.
It is in some degree nocturnal, or at least crepuscular, in its habits.  In
riding along by-paths through the woods, long after sunset, we are often
startled by the barking of this little Squirrel, as it scratches among