Chapter 55
DESCRIPTION.--Dr. Anderson, who discovered and named this species, describes it as follows: "The general colour is a rich dark maroon chestnut on all the upper parts, the head and back in some being finely speckled with white, which is most marked in the young, but is always most profuse on the posterior half of the back, which in some individuals has almost a h.o.a.ry tinge, from the extent to which the annulation of the hairs is carried.
"In the adult, the upper surface of the parachute is of the same colour as the back, and the hairs are not annulated, except along its margin; but in younger specimens they are partially so on the upper surface, as are also the hairs on the first three or six inches of the tail, which are concolorous with the back, but broadly tipped with black, while the remaining portion of the tail is rich glossy black; the sides of the face, below the eye and ear, are yellowish-grey, mixed with chestnut, and the chin is dusky; the paws are rich black, also the margins of the limbs; the under surface is clad with a yellowish-white, rather woolly fur, which in some tends to a chestnut tint in the middle line, and to a darker tint of the same colour at the margin of the parachute.
"The basal portion of the fur of the upper parts is a dark greyish-brown, the hairs at their base being wavy; then follows a palish chestnut band, succeeded by a dark maroon chestnut, which either may or may not have a pure white sub-apical band, the tips of the hairs being glossy deep maroon chestnut, in some verging on black.
"The ears are large and rounded, and very spa.r.s.ely covered with black hairs externally, with chestnut-coloured hairs on the anterior, and black on the posterior half of the dorsal surface.
"The hairs on the outer side of the tarsus form a rather long and dense brush; the tail is moderately bushy."--'Anat. and Zool. Res.,'
p. 282.
SIZE.--Dr. Anderson only got skins of this beautiful squirrel, so accurate dimensions cannot be given, but the largest skin measured from muzzle to root of tail 24 inches, the tail being the same.
NO. 300. PTEROMYS MELANOPTERUS.
_The Black-flanked Flying Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--The back and top of the head are greyish-yellowish, the hairs being leaden grey at the base, pa.s.sing into yellow, the sub-terminal part being brown, with a minute dark point; the upper surface of the parachute is almost wholly black, with a greyish-white border; under surface yellow; the belly greyish-ashy; feet black; limbs and tail concolorous with the body, the latter very bushy.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 19-1/4 inches; tail, 17-1/4 inches.
I have included this species, although it does not belong to India proper; still it would be well if travellers and sportsmen exploring our Thibetan frontiers would keep a look-out for this animal. At present all we know of it is from Professor Milne-Edwards's description of animals collected by the Abbe David, to whom we are also indebted for the next species.
NO. 301. PTEROMYS ALBORUFUS.
_The Red and White Flying Squirrel_.
HABITAT.--Thibet; district of Moupin.
DESCRIPTION.--I have but a bare note of this species taken long ago from Milne-Edwards's work on the Mammals of Thibet, so I will quote Dr. Anderson's description from the types he examined: "The head, the sides of the neck, the throat and upper part of the chest, variegated with white, through which the rich maroon of the ground colour is partially seen, and it forms a ring around the eye; the hinder part of the back is yellow, and the tail, immediately beyond its base, is also yellowish for a short way, fading into the deep maroon of its latter two-thirds. It has no black tip. The feet are concolorous with the body; the under parts are
Res.,' p. 284.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 23 inches; tail, 16 inches.
NO. 302. PTEROMYS MAGNIFICUS.
_The Red-bellied Flying Squirrel_ (_Jerdon's No. 162_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Biyom_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--South-eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Sikim, Bhotan; also in the hill ranges of a.s.sam.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts dark chestnut or a rich l.u.s.trous dark maroon chestnut, with a golden yellow mesial line in some; the hairs are black tipped, the dark portions of the back being finely but obscurely punctulated with dark orange; the shoulders and thighs are golden yellow, and the under-parts are orange fawn or orange red; so is also the margin of the parachute; the ears are large, semi-nude, spa.r.s.ely clad with pale red hair externally, and bright red posteriorly, the base of the upper surface being clad with long hair; the sides of the face below the eyes are yellowish; there is a black zone round the eyes; the chin and the feet are blackish; the tail is orange red, tipped more or less broadly with black.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 16 inches; tail, 22 inches.
The young of this species have not the dorsal line, the head and neck are concolorous with the body, as is also the tail at its base; the under parts are pale yellowish-red. According to Dr. Anderson the skulls of _Pteromys magnificus_ and _P. oral_ differ in the shorter muzzle and the more elevated character of the inter-orbital depression of the latter. This animal is occasionally found at Darjeeling, and according to Jerdon it used to be more common there before the station was so denuded of its fine trees. It frequents the zone from 6000 to 9000 feet, and feeds on acorns, chestnuts and other hard fruit; also on young leaves and shoots. There is a coloured plate of this species in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xiii. part i. p. 67.
NO. 303. PTEROMYS ALBIVENTER.
_The White-bellied Flying Squirrel_ (_Pteromys inornatus of Jerdon, No. 161_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Rusigugar_, i.e., flying rat, Kashmiri.
HABITAT.--From Nepal, along the North-western Himalayas to Kashmir.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts grizzled reddish-brown or dark grey with a rufous tinge, or a reddish-bay, darker on the upper surface of the parachute, and outside of limbs; head, neck, and breast greyish-rufous; cheeks grey; chin, throat and lower part of breast white, faintly tinged with rufous in the belly; under part of parachute rufous, tinged white, with a greyish posterior margin.
Occasionally a dark brown band over the nose and round the eyes; the whiskers and feet blackish.
SIZE.--Head and body, 14 inches; tail, 16 inches.
This is a common squirrel at Simla. One was killed close to the house in which I was staying in 1880 at the Chota Simla end of the station by a native servant, who threw a stick at it, and knocked it off a bough, and I heard of two living ones being hawked about for sale about the same time--which, to my regret, I failed to secure, some one having bought them. They are common also in Kashmir, where they live in holes made in the bark of dead fir-trees. They are said to hybernate during the season there. A melanoid variety of this species is mentioned by Dr. Anderson as being in the Leyden Museum. It was obtained by Dr. Jerdon in Kashmir, and presented to the Museum by the late Marquis of Tweeddale.
NO. 304. PTEROMYS CANICEPS.
_The Grey-headed Flying Squirrel_ (_Sciuropterus caniceps of Jerdon, No. 163_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Biyom-chimbo_, Lepcha.
HABITAT.--Sikim and Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.--At first sight this seems to be a grey-headed form of the last species, but with larger ears; the head is iron grey; round the eyes and a patch above and below orange fulvous or chestnut; the base of the ears the same. Regarding this Dr. Anderson, on comparing it with the last, writes: "On a more critical examination of _P.
caniceps_ it appears to me, judging from Hodgson's types of the species, that it has larger ears, and if this should prove to be a persistent character, then the grey head and the chestnut speck above and below the eye, and the bright chestnut tuft behind the ears, a.s.sume a specific importance which they would not otherwise have."
But he adds that his observations are merely from preserved specimens, and that the question of the magnitude of the ears is one yet to be settled by further investigation of the living animal. Jerdon's description is "entire head iron-grey; orbits and base of ears deep orange fulvous; whole body above, with parachute and tail, a mixture of blackish and golden yellow; limbs deep orange ochreous; margin of parachute albescent; beneath the neck whitish; rest of the lower parts pale orange-red; tip of tail black; ears nearly nude; tail sub-distichous." The fur is softer, denser, and longer than in the last two species.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 14 inches; tail, 15 to 16 inches.
NO. 305. PTEROMYS PEARSONII.
_The Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel_ (_Sciuropterus villosus of Jerdon, No. 166_).
HABITAT.--Sikim and Upper a.s.sam.
DESCRIPTION.--Upper part of head and back rich glossy reddish-brown, grizzled with black; the parachute blackish-brown, spa.r.s.ely washed with faint reddish brown.
"Fur very fine, soft, and rather long, but adpressed, and the hidden portion is almost black, narrowly tipped with the reddish-brown, the sides of the hair being blackish-brown. On the parachute only a few hairs have the reddish band, and these are most numerous towards the margin; the tail is rather bushy and but slightly distichous, and the hidden portion of its fur is pale fawn at the base, pa.s.sing into pale chestnut brown, washed with dusky brown on the sides and upper surface; the margins of the eyelids are dark brown, and the sides of the face are pale rufous; the ears are moderately large and rounded, rather dark brown towards the tips, and pencilled at the base, anteriorly and posteriorly, with long delicate hairs. There are no true cheek bristles, but the moustachial hairs are very long; the under surface is pale ferruginous, palest on the mesial line, and most rufescent on the outer half of the membrane, the margin of which inferiorly is pale yellowish; the hairs on the membrane have dark slaty--almost black--bases, the ferruginous being confined to the tips; the fur of the under-parts is very soft and dense; the feet are well clad, more especially so those of the hind limbs."--_Anderson_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 8 inches; tail, 8 inches.
Jerdon says it is found at elevations of 3000 to nearly 6000 feet.
NO. 306. PTEROMYS FUSCOCAPILLUS.
_The Small Travancore Flying Squirrel_ (_Sciuropterus of Jerdon, No. 167_).
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon.