Audubon's Mammals/MAMMALS1_3.BIN/dp/0001/00015.txt

Text File | 1992-08-25 | 30KB | 447 lines

$Unique_ID{QAD00015}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Chipping Squirrel, Hackee. &c     (Eastern Chipmunk)}
$Subject{Chipping Squirrel, Hackee. &c     (Eastern Chipmunk); Tamias; Listeri; audio}
$Journal{Quadrupeds of America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 1:65-75}
$Genus{Tamias}
$Species{Listeri}
$Common_Name{Chipping Squirrel, Hackee. &c}
$Log{
Plate VIII*00015P1.scf,34200021.aud
Audio*34200021.aud
Genus*00014.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.
                        --------------------------------


                             TAMIAS LISTERI.--RAY.
                               [Tamias striatus]

                        CHIPPING SQUIRREL, HACKEE.  &c.
                               [Eastern Chipmunk]

              PLATE VIII.--MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG (First Autumn).


     T. dorso fusco-cinereo, striis quinque nigris, et duobus luteo-albis
longitudinalibus ornato; fronte et natibus fusco-luteis; ventre albo.


                                  CHARACTERS.

     Brownish gray on the back; forehead and buttocks brownish orange; five
longitudinal black stripes and two yellowish white ones on the back; under
surface white.


                                   SYNONYMES.

     ECUREUIL SUISSE, Sagard Theodat, Canada, p. 746, A. D. 1636.
     GROUND SQUIRREL, Lawson's Carolina, p. 124.
     GROUND SQUIRREL, Catesby, Carol. vol. ii., p. 75.
     EDWARDS, vol. iv., p. 181. Kalm, vol. i., p. 322.
     SCIURUS LYSTERI, Ray, Synops. Quad., p. 216, A.D. 1693.
     LE SUISSE, Charlevoix, Nouv. Fr., vol. v., p. 196.
     STRIPED DORMOUSE, Pennant, Arc. Zool., 4 vols., vol. i., P. 126.
     SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS, Brisson, Reg. Anim., p. 155, A.D. 1756.
     ECUREUIL SUISSE, (Desm. Enc. Mamm.,) Nota, p. 339, Esp., 547.
     SCIURUS STRIATUS, Harlan, Fauna, p. 183.
     SCIURUS STRIATUS, Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 142.
     SCIURUS (TAMIAS) LYSTERI, Rich., F.B.A., p. 181, plate 15.
     SCIURUS (TAMIAS) LYSTERI, Doughty's Cabinet Nat. Hist., vol. ., p. 169,
       pl. 15.
     SCIURUS STRIATUS, DeKay, Nat. Hist. of N. Y., part 1, p. 62, pl. 16,
       fig. 1.


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     Body, rather slender; forehead, arched; head, tapering from the ears to the
nose, which is covered with short hairs; nostrils, opening downwards, margins
and septum naked; whiskers, shorter than the head.  A few bristles on the cheeks
and above the eye-brows; eyes, of moderate size; ears, ovate, rounded, erect,
covered with short hair on both surfaces, not tufted, the hair on those parts
simply covering the margins.  Cheek-pouches, of tolerable size, extending on the
sides of the neck to a little below the ear, opening into the mouth between the
incisors and molars.  Fore-feet, with four slender, compressed, slightly-curved
claws, and the rudiment of a thumb, covered with a short blunt nail; hind-feet,
long and slender, with five toes, the middle toe being a little the longest.
Tail, rather short and slender, nearly cylindrical above, dilated on the sides,
not bushy, sub-distichous.  Hair on the whole body short and smooth, but not
very fine.


                                    COLOUR.

     A small black spot above the nose; forehead, yellowish brown; above and
beneath the eyelids, white; whiskers and eyelashes, black; a dark brown streak
running from the sides of the face through the eye and reaching the ear; a
yellowish brown stripe extending from near the nose, running under the eye to
behind the ear, deepening into chesnut-brown immediately below the eye, where
the stripe is considerably dilated.
     Anterior portion of the back, hoary gray, this colour being formed by a
mixture of gray and black hairs.  Colour of the rump, extending to a little
beyond the root of the tail, hips, and exterior surface of the thighs, reddish
fawn, a few black hairs sprinkled among the rest, not sufficiently numerous to
give a darker shade to those parts.  A dark dorsal line commencing back of the
head is dilated on the middle of the back, and runs to a point within an inch of
the root of the tail; this line is brownish on the shoulder, but deepens into
black in its progress downwards.
     On each flank there is a broad yellowish-white line, running from the
shoulder to the thighs, bordered on each side with black.  The species may be
characterized by its having five black and two white stripes on a gray ground.
The flanks, sides, and upper surface of feet and ears, are reddish-gray; whole
under surface white, with no line of demarcation between the colours of the back
and belly.  Tail, brown at its root, afterwards grayish-black, the hair being
clouded and in some places banded with black; underneath, reddish-brown, with a
border of black, edged with light gray.
     There are some varieties observable among specimens procured in different
States of the Union.  We have noted it, like the Virginian deer, becoming
smaller in size at it was found farther to the South.  In Maine and New
Hampshire it is larger than in the mountains of Carolina and Louisiana, and the
tints of those seen at the North were lighter than the colouring of the Southern
specimens we have examined.  We possess an albino, sent to us alive, snow-white,
with red eyes; and also another specimen jet-black.  We have, however, found no
intermediate varieties, and in general we may remark that the species of this
genus are not as prone to variations in colour as those of the true Squirrels.


                                  DIMENSIONS.

                                                             Inches.  Lines.

     Length of head and body .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   6        3
     Length of head .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   1        6
     Length of tail (vertebrae) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   3        7
     Length of tail, including fur .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   4        7
     Height of ear  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   0        4
     Breadth of ear .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   0        3 1/2


                                    HABITS.

     The Chipping Squirrel, as this little animal is usually called, or Ground
Squirrel, as it is named almost as frequently, is probably, with the exception
of the common flying squirrel, (Pteromys volucella,) one of the most interesting
of our small quadrupeds.  It is found in most parts of the United States, and
being beautifully marked in its colouring is known to every body.  From its
lively and busy habits, one might consider it among the quadrupeds as occupying
the place of the wren among the feathered tribes.  Like the latter, the Ground
Squirrel, full of vivacity, plays with the utmost grace and agility among the
broken rocks or uprooted stumps of trees about the farm or wood pasture; its
clucking resembles the chip, chip, chip, of a young chicken, and although not
musical, like the song of the little winter wren, excites agreeable thoughts as
it comes on the air.  We fancy we see one of these sprightly Chipping Squirrel
as he runs before us with the speed of a bird, skimming along a log fence, his
chops distended by the nuts he has gathered in the woods; he makes no pause till
he reaches the entrance of his subterranean retreat and store-house.  Now he
stands upright, and his chattering cry is heard, but at the first step we make
towards him, he disappears.  Stone after stone we remove from the aperture
leading to his deep and circuitous burrow; but in vain is all our labour--with
our hatchets we cut the tangled roots, and as we follow the animal, patiently
d