Tassel-eared squirrel (Abert’s) _Sciurus aberti_ (Latin: shade-tail ... for Col. J. J. Abert) Range: Northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, extreme southeastern Utah, and south central Colorado in the United States; also found in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Mexico. [Illustration: Habitat map] Habitat: Ponderosa pine forests of the Transition Life Zone. Description: The only squirrels in the United States that have conspicuous pencils of hair on the tips of the ears. _Sciurus aberti_ is a large squirrel with a total length of about 20 inches. Tail about 9 inches. The summer pelage is brown on the back, with gray sides and pure white underparts. The beautiful bushy tail is silvery below and gray above. During summer the long ears have no tassels on the tips. Beautiful as is the summer coat, it is far surpassed by the winter one. Then the heavier fur becomes richer brown on the back, and the contrast between the gray and white areas is further emphasized by appearance of a narrow black band between them. The ears too become more spectacular with the addition of the penciled tufts which give this animal its common name. Breeding habits of this squirrel are variable and evidently depend to a great extent on the food supply. There may be as many as two litters in a fruitful year and none at all in a lean year. The usual number is three or four young to a litter. These are born sometimes in a hollow tree, but more often in a bulky nest of leaves built in a tree top. No mammal of the United States has a more appropriate generic name than the large tree squirrel. _Sciurus_ literally translated means “shade-tail” and refers of course to the beautiful and useful appendage sported by all of our arboreal types of squirrels. It is doubtful if any can equal the striking plume carried by _aberti_; certainly none can surpass it. Its distinctiveness is not occasioned by its size, for several species have tails that are longer. Rather, its elegance is derived from the width, the striking coloration, and the easy grace with which the animal displays its beauty. Whether in full flight across a grassy clearing or in repose on some lofty limb, the first field mark of this unusual squirrel will be the tail; the second, the tasseled ears.