No. 282 Sciurus Blanfordii. — Blanford’s Squirrel
Habitat.—Upper Burmah.
Description.—Pale grey above, finely punctulated with black and grey; tail concolorous, with a black tip; under parts pale orange yellow; hands and feet yellow. Dr. Anderson shot a female at Pudeepyo, in the beginning of January, which had a distinct tendency to the formation of a dusky lateral stripe, as in the last species; the under-parts also were much more rich orange than in the type of this species. In the grey phase of S. caniceps that species is so like S. Blanfordii in the colouring of the upper parts and feet that it is almost impossible to distinguish them, but, according to Dr. Anderson, “on examining the under parts it is found that in these phases of S. caniceps they are grey, whereas in S. Blanfordii they are a beautiful rich orange, and the feet are yellow.”
Before proceeding to the next species, which is a better marked one, I will quote one more passage from Dr. Anderson’s careful comparison of the four preceding squirrels. “S. Phayrei corresponds in the colour of the upper fur to the yellow phase of S. caniceps, and the tail is the same as in it, having a black tip, which is the character also that that appendage has in S. pygerythrus. In some examples of S. Phayrei the dusky or blackish is not confined to the lateral line, but extends over the outside of the fore-limbs, the feet being always yellow in squirrels presenting these characters. Some specimens of S. pygerythrus show a distinct tendency to have yellow feet, and further research will probably prove S. Phayrei to be only a variety of S. pygerythrus. When Blyth first encountered this form, he simply regarded it as a variety of S. pygerythrus, and I believe his first opinion will be ultimately found to be more in accordance with the real interpretation of the facts than the conclusion he afterwards adopted. In the Paris Museum there is an example of S. Blanfordii from Upper Burmah which distinctly shows a dark lateral streak, so that, taking into consideration the other examples to which I have already referred, there seems to be a presumption that it and S. Phayrei are one and the same species, and that they are probably identical with S. pygerythrus; moreover, my impression is that a more extensive series will establish their identity with S. caniceps. This view of the question is also supported by a small series of these squirrels in the Leyden Museum from Tounghu in Upper Burmah, presented by the Marquis of Tweeddale. From the characters manifested by these squirrels, and the circumstances that they were all shot in one locality, they are of great interest. One is an adult, and in its upper parts it exactly resembles S. Blanfordii, also in its yellow feet and black tip to its tail, but, like S. Phayrei, it has a broad blackish-brown lateral stripe. The others are smaller, and resemble the foregoing specimens in all their characters, except that they have no dark lateral streak, and that the feet of two are concolorous with the upper parts, while in the remaining squirrel the feet appear to be changing to yellow, as in the adult. The two former of these, therefore, conform to the type of S. pygerythrus, but the fur of the upper parts is greyer and not so richly coloured as in it, but the annulation of the fur has the same character in both. The remaining specimen in its features is distinctly referable to S. Blanfordii” (‘Anat. and Zool. Researches,’ p. 232).
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