DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HiSTORY 77TH STREET & CENTRAL PARK WEST NEW YORK CITY A =u arty he ‘4 am Vy v' > : » are BP ian a7 Re ie - ati Mae Ay B 4 ee) 1 * ; oie % i 4 + f ‘ ¥ ge 4 , age iSt b y Ne a . } i I i bh ‘ a i j ; hae he, f 4 i a4 ; ; y , A % at . ate e ~ AMERICAN ANIMALS " ihe ¥ By A. Radclyffe Dugmore BIGHORN, OR MOUNTAIN SHEEP (Ovis cervina) AMERICAN ANIMALS Mone i AORN GULDE TNO (|THE MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA Nom hn Or MEXTCO,. WITH INTIMATE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE MORE FAMILIAR SPECIES BY WITMER STONE AND WILLIAM EVERETT CRAM GARDEN CIty NEw YorkK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1920 | ARs © rsd : i; i \ j t rt aN uf i “ H ts 1 ' i ony ‘ j Th ) ray } , Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co. ‘ 41 ~ #50286 -Tuly 25 : u ¢ Ue Fee eeig 1 ‘ PREFACE N PREPARING the present volume the aim has been to produce | a work sufficiently free from technicalities to appeal to the general reader and at the same time to include such scientific information relative to our North American mammals as would be desired by one beginning their study. The key at the end of the volume will be found of service in indentifying unfamiliar mammals, and includes certain characters omitted from the body cf the book. As a guide to further study there has been appended a bibliography of the principal works on North American mammals. To many of these 1 would express my indebtedness, especially to the writings of Allen, Merriam, Miller, Bangs and Rhoads, and also my acknowledgments to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and Mr. Samuel N. Rhoads for the privi- lege of studying the specimens contained in their collections. The text figures are all reproduced from standard works, while the plates are largely from the brush or camera of Mr. A. Radclyffe Dugmore, whose name is so intimately connected with illustrations of nature. The publishers wish to acknowledge the many courtesies and the helpful codperation of the New York Zoological Society and its Director, Wm. T. Hornaday, Esq.; many of the photographs made at the Zoological Park could not have been secured elsewhere. The same is true of the Washington Zoological Park, in which Mr. Dugmore made a number of pictures. WITMER STONE. September 7, 1902. THANKS ARE DUE TO THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND THE DIREC- TOR, MR. WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, FOR THEIR COOPERATION IN SECURING MANY OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS : : : : ? TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Introduction ; Edentates or Toothless Animals The Armadillos Cetaceans Whales Dolphins : : : “ Porpoises Manatees and Dugongs Ungulates or Hoofed Animals Peccaries , : Deer and Their Allies Pronghorns The Cattle Rodents or Gnawing Animals Rabbits and Hares Pikas Porcupines . : : Pocket Gophers Pocket Mice Jumping Mice Rats, Mice and Lemmings Meadow Mice, Lemmings and Muskrats American Long-tailed Mice and Rats Introduced Rats and Mice Vii Table of Contents Rodents or Gnawing Animals —Continued. Beavers Sewellel Squirrels and Marmots . Moles and Shrews Bats Carnivorous or Flesh-eating Animals . Eared Seals Walruses Seals Weasels, Otters etc. Raccoons and Their Allies Bears Wolves and Foxes Cats : ‘ ; : ; viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COLORED PLATES AND HALF=TONES Bighorn or Mountain Sheep (Ovis cervina) ; . Frontispiece FACING PAGS Possum Hiding in Palmetto, where he has been chased by a dog (Didelphis virginiana ) 5 A Scared ’Possum . : ; : : ‘ . 7 ‘Possum Climbing : : : : - : : ° 8 ‘Possum Looking Out of Nest . : : : 8 A New Jersey Possum (Didelphis virginiana) . 8 A Florida ’Possum : 10 Opossum ( Didelphis pe Showing veung at the Mouth of the Pouch. ; : : 10 Six-banded Armadillo (Dasypus eS : y : 12 Manatees Under Water (Trichechus latirostris) . sueniite 20 Collared Peccary (Tayassu tayassu) . : f : : 30 Bull Elk or Stag (Cervus canadensis ) ‘ ; : : 33 An Elk (Cervus canadensis) Getting His Antlers sf ‘ 35 The Rapid Growth of an Elk’s Antlers ‘ : 2 ; 37 Elk Stag and Herd (Cervus canadensis) . , é 39 A Startled Doe; she hears a whistle across the creek : 40 White-tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) . “ ‘ “ 40 Virginia Deer in the Maine Woods at Night. : - 42 Deer, in Moose Creek, Idaho . : 3 44 Western White-tail, or Virginia Deer ( OS locatn virgin- ianus macrourus) in the Bitter Root Valley, Montana 44 A Young White-tail Buck (Odocoileus virginianus) . ; 40 A Bunch of Mule-deer Does (Odocoileus hemionus) . é 48 Young Bull Moose (Alces americanus) : ‘ a : 51 A Pair of Bull Moose (Alces americanus) . : 3 ° 53 ix List of Illustrations Young Woodland Caribou (Rangifer caribou) . : Typical Heads and Antlers of Cervide Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) . ; : . ° Young Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) at’ Pie Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) : ‘ . Male Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana ) Mountain Goat (Oreamnos montanus ) Young Cow Musk Ox, about 16 months old ( Ovibos mos~ chatus ) Bull Bison (Bison bison) . ; ‘ : : : . A Herd of American Bison (Bison bison) Nest of Young Cottontails d . Young Cottontail Among the Cabbage ( teak Soridanus mallurus ) : ; : ° Varying Hare (Lepus americanus virginianus ) : . Little Chief Hare, or Pika (Ochotona princeps) ‘ ‘ Canada Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus), with quills thrown forward. In wild state American Porcupine Swimming, with oN aici ae. thizon dorsatus ) . Western Pocket Gopher ( Thomomys ) Western Long -tail Mouse, caught in the Bitter Root Mountains Long-tailed Jumping Kiouse ( Zapus donne , ‘ Mice and Shrews of the Eastern States ‘ A : 5 Western and Southern Mice and Rats $ - : ° Muskrat (Fiber zibethicus ) : . ° ° e Western Wood Rat, female ( ici : A ° ° Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus littoralis) . ° ° Western Bushy-tailed Wood Rat (Neotoma) . . ° White-footed Mouse (Peromyscus), enlarged ‘ A A White-footed Mouse and Young (Peromyscus leucopus) . House Mouse on Trap (Mus musculus) . ‘ . ° Common,or Norway Rat (Mus norvegicus ) : ° ° Canadian Beaver (Castor canadensis ) ; . ° ° x List of Illustrations PACING PAGE weaver Lodges and a Dam , : 149 A Pair of Woodchucks by their Baron ( ecbonis eas) 151 Woodchuck (Arctomys monax) : : , : : 154 Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus ) ‘: ‘ 4 156 Western Spermophile (Spermophilus ), photograph in Colorado : : ; : : 158 Say’s Spermophile ( Saab an phitics vache: 4) : . : 161 White-tailed Spermophile (Spermophilus leucurus) . é 103 Young of Columbia Spermophile (Spermophilus columbianus) 103 Say’s Spermophile in Snow (Spermophilus lateralis ) ‘ 105 Young Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), about one-third grown : , ‘ ; 105 Western Chipmunk ( Tiviias dsoameitanis) : : 4 107 Chipmunk (Tamias striatus ) ; : ‘ : : - 168 Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) . ; , : A 170 Red Squirrels (Scturus hudsonicus gymnicus) : : 172 Young Red Squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus gymnicus) 2 174 Hoary Marmot (Arctomys Pruinosus ) : : 4 : 174 Pine Squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus richardsont) ‘ : 176 Flying Squirrel (Sciuropterus volans) ‘ : - . 179 Common Mole (Scalops aquaticus ) ; 5 : ° 190 Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata) 2 a , 190 Marsh Shrew (Sorex palustris) : : ; - . 190 Four Common Eastern Bats : , é : : 198 Sea-lion (Zalophus californianus) . : : : 2 208 Sea-lion (Zalophus californianus), barking : : : 211 Walrus Bulls and Cows (Odobenus rosmarus) . F 4 212 Fur Seals (Otoes alascanus) : : F : ‘ : 216 Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) . ‘ : . : 216 Otter (Lutra canadensis) . 4 : ; ; : 222 Skunk (Mephitis putida), crossing a stream. ASE 231 Mink (Putorius vison) : : : : ; : : 234 Weasel (Putorius noveboracensis) ‘ : 4 : . 234 American Sable or Pine Marten (Mustela americana). ° 244 Wolverine or Carcajou (Gulo luscus) . ; ° . 246 x! Liet of Illustrations BaciaGe PAGE Raccoon (Procyon lotor) . ‘ A A 3 - ° 250 Polar Bear (Thalarctos maritimus) . ° ° ° . 254 Polar Bear (Thalarctos maritimus) . 5 s ° . 2506 Florida Black Bear (Ursus floridanus ) , ; : 259 Silver Tip; variety of the Grizzly Bear (Ursus horribilis) . 261 Kadiak Bear (Ursus middendorffi) . : ; : : 263 Kadiak Bear (Ursus middendorfi) . : : ; : 266 Red Fox (Vulpes fulvus) - : ° ° : : 268 A Young Red Fox (Vulpes fulvus) . . d ; ° 270 Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) : : ; . 277 Timber or Gray Wolf (Canis occidentalis ) : ow 279 Coyote (Cants latrans) d ‘ , . $ A 282 Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensts ) : : ‘ 284 Cougar, or Mountain Lion (Felis oregonus hippolestes ) : 290 Jaguar (Felis onca) . : : . . ° : 292 INTRODUCTION Mammals and their Study THE first questions that present themselves in the study of mammals are: What is a mammal and what is an animal? An animal we are told is anything endowed with life, that is not a plant. Very true, but popularly we use the word in another sense, meaning a beast as opposed to a bird, a fish or a rep- tile—that is to say we mean one of the classes of back-boned animals. Unfortunately we have no English name for this group. The term ‘‘quadruped,” it is true, applies to a great majority of its members, but does not fit the whales or bats which belong here just as much as the four-footed beasts; nor does ‘‘quadruped” apply te man who stands at the head of the group. Therefore we have to adopt an abbreviation of the Latin name for this class of animals and call them mammals. A mam- mal then is characterized by having a more or less hairy body, and in suckling its young, while it has warm blood like the birds. The relations between man and the lower mammals have always been most important. He depends upon them for meat and clothing, he uses them as beasts of burden, he hunts them and trains them to hunt each other. With the exception of the beasts of burden and those which aid him in the chase, man’s attitude toward mammals has always been that of a destroyer; in whatever field he may meet them his object is always to kill. Those which furnish good meat are slaughtered for food or are pursued from pure love of the chase; those which furnish valuable skins are killed by the trappers as a means of liveli- hood; fierce beasts are everywhere shot on sight, while a relent- less war is being perpetually carried on against the great army of rats, mice and other despoilers of our crops. Much of this slaughter is justified, but much is unwarranted and is speedily effecting the extermination of all the large and especially desirable mammals of the world. Pure greed and wantonness are destroying many of the most Introduction valuable and interesting mammals where moderation and proper protection would ensure their preservation for an indefinite time. In long past ages man learned the importance of protecting the most useful mammals of the Old World—the ancestors of the so-called domestic animals—and this he continues to do to-day, but in the case of wild animals, which he finds in other coun- tries, he seems blind to the importance of similar care. In our own country the buffalo is gone, the moose and elk are rapidly decreasing, and the fur seals are threatened with extermination in spite of all laws and regulations. In Africa all the large ‘‘game” is being shot off by adventure-loving ex- plorers and many species are even now nearing extinction; and so it is elsewhere. While the value of mammals from a purely economic point constitutes their main importance to the world at large, their scientific characters and the study of their life and habits are most absorbing, and with the spreading interest in nature study we can well afford to give them a share of our attention. From their high position in the animal kingdom it seems strange at first thought that we do not see more of mammals in our woods and fields. It is only the most common species that we are at all familiar with and though the country may be teeming with bird and insect life we are not likely on an ordinary ramble to see more of the mammals than a few squirrels, a mouse or two and perhaps a rabbit, muskrat or woodchuck. Mammals are, however, much. more plentiful than we suppose. Go out after a snowfall and see what a record of foot-prints is presented. Evidently our four-footed friends are largely nocturnal in habits, and it is this fact together with their general wariness and extremely acute sense of hearing, smell and sight that render them so hard to see. The very difficulties which beset the study of mammals in the field render it all the more attractive, and we envy the woodsman whose long practice renders conspicuous to him signs that to the beginner are passed again and again unnoticed. As we follow a trail through the forest, his quick eye notes that a bear has pre- ceded us. Here are some herbs that he has grubbed up, there are his muddy footprints on a log and the rotten bark has peeled off with his weight as he jumped down, and here again he has risen on his hind feet to claw and bite the bark of a tree. ' xiv Introduetion How clear the story is when once it has been pointed out! And we feel that in studying the marks of his presence we have learned something of the bear himself. Tracks on the snow are much easier hieroglyphs to decipher; to use Burrough’s words: ‘‘The snow is a great tell-tale and blabs as effectually as it obliterates. I go into the woods and know all that has happened. I cross the field, and if only a mouse has visited his neighbour, the fact is chronicled.” It is, indeed, a fascinating task to read the story of the mammals in the snow, to learn to know the sharp clear-cut trail of the fox, the blurred mark of the rabbit’s hairy foot, the nervous tread of the squirrels and the dainty traceries of the mice and shrews. A knowledge of mammals doubles the interest of an ordinary ramble to the lover of nature. Even though we see but few, we learn to know their presence and see their work on every side, and the more we learn of their ways the more frequent glimpses we get of them. The pleasure of seeing and studying a wild animal in life to me far outranks the gratification of making a good shot and ‘‘bagging my game,” and | think that if the pleasure men feel in hunting were carefully analyzed it will be found that besides being close to nature it rests largely in the contest of skill and craft between hunter and game and that the mere killing is any- thing but a gratification. Structure and Classification Mammals form one of the great classes of vertebrate animals. The most important character which they have in common, but which is not possessed by any other animals, is that the young are nourished for some time after birth on milk secreted by the mother. Furthermore, all mammals are covered with more or less hair* in distinction to the feathers of birds, and the scales of fishes and reptiles. Mammals are supposed to have originated from some early reptilian animal and branched off long before the birds were evolved. They first became abundantly distributed over the Ter- tiary period though the earliest remains occur in the Triassic. * Entirely disappears in adult whales. KV Introduction In the ages since then one type of mammal after another has arisen, some being modified step by step into the forms that inhabit the earth to-day while others have been entirely exterminated. In some cases the series of fossil remains are so complete that we can easily trace the ancestry of several of our modern mammals, as, for instance, the horse, which is shown to be originally descended froma five-toed beast, while successive ages show the specialization of the feet, first with four toes and then with three, until finally we have the existing horse with his one large toe or hoof on each foot. At the present time the great bulk of mammals belong to one group known as the Eutheria—modern mammals—though we have remnants of two other more primitive groups which were much more extensively developed in the past. These are now almost entirely restricted to Australia and the neighbouring islands where they have been cut off from their mainland rela- tives at the time that Australia became separated from the Asia- tic continent, and have there been preserved to the present day, free from the inroad of the higher forms of mammals which spread over the continents and, being better adapted to existing conditions, crowded the earlier forms out of existence. The most primitive of the older mammals are the Prototheria —early mammals—comprising the duck bill and spiny ant-eater of Australia, animals which resemble in skeletal characters the earliest known fossil mammals, and “which lay eggs somewhat like those of the reptiles. The second group, the Marsupialia—pouched mammals—in- cludes a large number of species in Australia and the opossums of America. One of the leading peculiarities of these animals is that their young are born at a very early stage of development in a perfectly helpless condition and are then placed in an ex- ternal pouch on the belly of the female where they continue their development. The modern mammals—Eutheria—comprise a number of dis- tinct types the relationship of which is not always clear, though they are all derived from a common origin and are more closely related to one another than to either of the preceding groups. The aquatic whales and manatees, while not closely related to one another, differ so much from the land mammals that itis very Xvi Introduction uncertain just where they branched off from the “family tree” and it is convenient to consider them first, though they are without doubt degenerate animals derived from some ancient ter- restrial forms and are not themselves primitive. The remaining orders fall naturally into two series, those with compressed, hooked “claws’’ on the feet and those with flat nails or hoofs. We will have then the following table of “orders”? of mod- ern mammals: Aquatic, with no hind legs and with fore legs modified into flippers for swimming, tail broad and flat; hair little or none. Nostrils opening on top of the head in a “blow hole,” teeth, if any, simple and all alike, not tuberculate. Cetacea, whales. Nostrils at the end of the nose as_ usual, tuberculate teeth in the back part of the jaws. Sirenia, manatees. Terrestrial (except seals and bats) with all four limbs well devel- oped, and body covered with hair. Nails of feet compressed and hooked forming claws. No incisor teeth; teeth without enamel. Edentata, sloths, armadillos, etc. With incisor teeth; enamel present. Incisors large and prominent, two in each jaw, concealed portion curved and reaching far back in the skull, canines wanting, leaving a broad gap on each side of the mouth. Glires, rats, etc. Incisors small, generally more than two, canines present leaving no gap at the side of the jaws. Anterior limbs modified into wings....Chiroptera, bats. Anterior limbs normal. Canines not prominent........ Insectivora, shrews, etc. Canines) prominent .))0)02)00 5) Carnivora, cats, dogs, etc. Nails flat or developed into hoofs. Nose modified into a trunk, toes 5. Proboscidea, elephants. Nose normal, feet never 5-toed, always armed with hoofs. Ungulata, horses, cows, etc. Nose normal, feet always 5-toed. Primates, monkeys and man. There are a few more or less obscure foreign mammals that are not accommodated in the scheme given above, and which are intermediate in their characters. In North America we lack representatives of several orders. The Prototheria are entirely wanting and of the Marsupialia we XVii Introduction have only the opossum. Of the higher orders, the Sirenia are represented by the few remaining manatees of Florida, the Eden- tata only by a species of armadillo which crosses into Texas from farther south. Proboscidea (elephants) are entirely lacking, and of Primates our only native representatives are the Indian and Eskimo. Of the remaining orders we have an abundance of species. In the scientific study of mammals we are compelled to make use of more or less obscure characters, and when separa- ting species, we are unable to base descriptions entirely upon the external appearance, as is possible in the case of birds. Some mammals, especially among the mice, exhibit scarcely any external differences, while an examination of their skulls and teeth shows that they belong to quite different gencra. Indeed, few mammals are very brightly marked, doubtless due to their general nocturnal habits and their need of protec- tive colouration. The necessity of studying some of the skeletal characters in identifying mammals makes it desirable to have an idea of the more important portions of their bony structure. While there is no reason why the structure of any particular portion of an animal’s anatomy should be regarded as of more importance than another in studying its relationship, it is nevertheless a fact that in every group of animals certain organs or parts of the skeleton show a greater susceptibility to modification, and thus furnish a much easier clue to the origin and development of the species, than is offered by those parts in which there is very slight modification. Thus in the mammals it is the structure of the skull, the teeth and the lower leg and foot bones that furnish the basis for most of our classification. The Skull.—The skull is really composed of a large number of bones, each of which has a distinctive name, but in the adult animal they have become so firmly joined together that even the lines of juncture are nearly obliterated, and we may therefore say that the adult skull consists of two parts—the skull proper and the lower jaw or mandible, the latter being separable into two symmetrical halves. The skull proper consists of the bony box or brain case, the back of which is known as the occipital bone, and in it is the round hole or foramen through which the spinal chord joins the brain. The forward part of XViii Introduction the skull comprises the upper jaw, the nasal bones, surrounding the nostrils, and the large eye sockets. The bones forming the roof of the mouth constitute the palate and those forming the Skull and one side of mandible of Musk Rat. N nasal. F frontal. P parietal. O occipital. Z zygomatic arch, B audital bulla Mx maxillary PMx premaxillary. I incisors. M molars. CP coronoid process. CD condyle. A angle. forehead are the frontals, while on the posterior portion of the lower part of the skull are two rounded ‘‘ear bones” known as the audital bulle. The Teeth.—The teeth of mammals are divided into four groups, the zucisors or cutting teeth placed across the front of the jaws, the canines, four rather elongated teeth placed at the front corners of the jaws, two above and two below, the pre- molars placed immediately behind the canines, and back of these the molars or grinders. Most mammals have two sets of teeth; the milk teeth and the permanent teeth. The former are weaker and are only retained during the early years of the animal’s life when they are succeeded by the permanent set. The premolars are represented in the milk dentition, but the molars are not, and that is the reason for separating them. In structure, however, they are quite similar and it is often impossible to distinguish them. The simplest form of tooth is a_ single-pointed cone, such as we see in the toothed whales; all canine teeth are similar to this in structure, while the incisors are generally more flattened and sometimes slightly lobed. xix ” Introduction Next we have ituberculate teeth, with a flat crown from which arise rounded or pointed tubercles; such are many molars and premolars. Besides these there are the flat-topped teeth of horses, cows, elephants and many mice with tortuous ridges across their surface, these being the most complicated teeth known. 2 Sections of Teeth. 1 An incisor or tusk of Elephant, with open pulp cavity at base. 2 Human molar with broad crown and two roots. 3 Molar of Ox, showing deeply folded enamel surface with cement filling up the depressions. (After LYDEKKER). A tooth grows from a soft “pulp” and in its early stage is open at the base, the cavity being occupied by the pulp. Some teeth remain this way and continue to grow on_ indefi- nitely while they wear away more or less at their tips. Such are the tusks of elephants and the incisor teeth of rats and other gnawing animals. Other teeth, on the contrary, gradually close up at the base, forming one or more roots or fangs, the rem- nant of the pulp being contained in the inside of the tooth. Such teeth do not increase in growth after the roots are formed. The substances that make up teeth are three: (1) dentine or ivory which forms the bulk of the tooth, (2) enamel, a very hard bluish-white substance which covers the outer surface, and (3) cement, a bone-like substance which fills up the cavities XX Introductior between the ridges on the large teeth of the horse, cow, and other similar animals. The number of teeth varies greatly in different animals and furnishes us with an excellent aid to classification. Sometimes teeth are entirely wanting, as in certain whales, and again we find one or other of the groups of teeth lacking, as the canines in the gnawing mammals, or the incisors in the upper jaw or the cattle and deer. In other families of mammals special names are used fo: some of the teeth; thus it will be noticed that in all carnivorous mammals one of the back teeth on each side of the jaw is much. larger than the others, sometimes it is a molar, sometimes a premolar, but from its peculiar prominence it is called the car- nasal tooth. Again, in the insectivorous mammals, the incisors, canines and some of the premolars are all simple in structure and so much alike that they cannot be separated by their struc- ture; they are therefore for convenience known collectively as the unicuspid teeth. In many mammals some of the teeth become immensely developed and are termed tusks as, for example, in the elephant, walrus, narwhal, etc. Legs and Feet.—Next to the variations in their skulls and teeth mammals exhibit most diversity in the structure of their limbs. The limb of a mammal consists of four parts, and the bones which compose the fore limb have different names from those of the hind limb; thus we have FORE LIMB HIND LIMB I. Humerus (upper arm). Femur (thigh). Il. Ulna and radius (fore-arm). Tibia and fibula (lower leg). Ill. Bones of the carpus (wrist). Bones of the tarsus (ankle). IV. Phalanges (fingers). Phalanges (toes). The two bones composing the lower leg or calf which lie side by side are frequently joined together, or else the fibula is only partially developed. It is in the bones of the hands and feet, however, that we find the greatest variation, especially in the long bones that form the back of our hand (metacarpals) and the instep of our foot (metatarsals) and which support the fingers and toes. These xx1 Introduction are sometimes immensely developed so as to form apparently another section to the leg, as we see in the horse and cow Where these bones are so long that the heels on the hind feet are elevated a foot or more in the air. In these animals there is also a reduction in the number of toes and we find that such of these metacarpal and metatarsal bones as remain are fused to- gether, while those belonging to the missing toes are mere abor- tive splints. With these brief explanations we shall be better able to un- derstand the preceding table of the mammalian orders and the further classification which follows. Limits of the Work So easily are mammals affected by their surroundings that we find that differences in climate, temperature, humidity, food, etc., are immediately reflected in a difference in the size, colour, or skeletal characters of the individuals of a certain region. This re- sults in an immense number of geographic varieties of nearly all kinds of mammals which have been carefully studied and sepa- rated by systematic zoologists. The differences which distinguish these varieties are not al- ways perceptible to the popular eye, but as everyone wishes to be as nearly accurate as possible, we have mentioned in the following pages every species and variety of mammal found in North Amer- ica east of the Mississippi, and all the varieties of big game animals north of Mexico. Of other mammals from the West, however, only the most important species are described. The scientific names used are those adopted in the most reliable systematic monographs of the day and no attempt has been made to solve the vexed question of what constitutes a species and what a subspecies. Those animals which would be most readily recognized as different by one beginning the study of our mammals are separately described, while geographical races and closely allied species are grouped together at the end of the account with their range and a few of their most obvious dif- ferential characters. It will therefore be understood that in so grouping them there is no intention to reduce their taxonomic rank, but simply to arrange them so that the general reader, who does not wish to study in detail the structure of every form, XXti Introduction may more easily obtain the information that he desires. Those who do desire to go deeper into the subject and study the cra- nial peculiarities and minute differences between the numerous sub- species are referred to the technical works quoted in the appended bibliography. Bxiii bat i Ck kere Covad bey a iy Nass mat ial a : ¥ is oe ae i i AMERICAN ANIMALS ray MARSUPIALS OR POUCHED ANIMALS (Marsupialia) THE marsupials stand apart from all the other groups of Ameri- can mammals having many peculiarities of structure and habit not possessed by any other family. They are in fact the sur- vivors of an ancient population which was spread over the earth before the superior beasts of to-day made their appearance. At about the time that the marsupials had reached the height of their development Australia became separated from the mainland of Asia, and until the present time these curious primitive ani- mals have flourished on this isolated continent, while almost every- where else they have been superseded by more highly developed and more aggressive beasts. Outside of Australia the only known marsupials are the opos- sums, which are restricted to South and Middle America, with the single exception of the well-known Virginia opossum of our Southern and Middle States. The variety of Australian marsupials is very great; the largest and best-known are the peculiar kangaroos; others resemble in general form our smaller carnivora, still others recall the squirrels, while the flying phalangers are the counterpart of our flying squirrels and there is even a ‘‘marsupial mole!” Among the many peculiarities of structure exhibited by these animals may be mentioned especially the mode of nourishment of the young. Birth takes place when they are extremely small, very much earlier than in the higher mammals, and they are immediately placed in a peculiar pouch situated on the belly of the female where, attached to the nipples, they continue their development until able to shift for themselves. Even then they return to the pouch for shelter, for a considerable period after they can run about. The teeth of the marsupials are more primitive than those of most of the other mammals and are generally more numerous. As might be supposed from the variation in form and size ex- hibited by the marsupials their diet is likewise varied, some being 3 The Opossums carnivorous, others herbivorous and still others like our opossum omnivorous. As before stated we have only one group of marsupials in America, the opossums (Family Didelphide) . THE OPOSSUMS Family Didelphide Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana Kerr Length. 27 inches. Description. Hair long and rather coarse; general colour grayish white, caused by a mingling of black-tipped white under fur with long white overlying hairs; legs brownish black, feet black, toes white; head, throat and middle of lower parts white; ears naked, black with white tips; tail prehensile, nearly naked, black at the base, shading into dull flesh colour. Range. Southern and Middle States, except in the mountains, north to the Hudson and Connecticut valleys and to southern Illinois, not ranging north of what is known as the ‘‘ Caro- linian’ Fauna.” In Florida and Texas slightly different varieties occur. The opossum is our only representative of that remarkable class of beasts in which the young are born at such an early and undeveloped stage that the mother is obliged to carry them about in her pocket for several weeks; when first born a kan- garoo, an opossum and a mouse are of very nearly the same size, about half an inch in length, A mother opossum takes her half-dozen or more infants as fast as they are born and drops them into her pouch, where each seizes a teat and holds on; its mouth, which at first is open almost to the angle of the jaws, rapidly contracts and grows together when once it has taken hold of that which it is in- stinctively feeling for from the very first, and for the next few weeks the little family of brothers and sisters do nothing but sleep and grow, the old one forcing her milk into their mouths. 4 mur aM Aq (DUDA srydjep1d) DOA VW AM GCASVHO NAGA SVH AH AAAHM ‘OLLANTVd NI DNIGIH WNSSOd FURS waa The Opossums In the meantime she is obliged to forage the woods for food and protect herself and her family as best she may. At first thought one might very naturally infer that she would be at a decided disadvantage in being so very literally burdened with a family, yet on the whole she carries them but little longer than most other creatures of her size, the chief difference being that she has them where she can do pretty much as she pleases with them, and in case of injury is much less liable to incur serious results. Through the day she sleeps hidden in a _ hollow tree or stump, or dozes half in sunshine and half in shade among the branches. But as daylight fades and the shadows creep through the undergrowth she goes forth to see what the night has to offer her, shuffling along among the dew wet leaves, pouncing on a lizard here or a blundering dorbug that has chanced to upset itself in midflight, or else she follows up the shrill throbbing of a cricket and digs him out from his hiding place. If luck happens to be with her she may discover a nest full of eggs or young birds or mice, it is all one to her. She can also climb to the top of the tallest tree in the woods using her tail and hand-shaped feet almost like a monkey, even hanging head down by her tail and one hind foot if nec- essary from a branch just over a bird’s nest in order to reach whatever it contains. Her prehensile tail moreover often proves useful in supporting her while she gathers grapes and persimmons and other wild fruits of the forest, and it is said that the young ones when they first come out to see what the world is like, have a way of taking a couple of turns of their own tails about that of their parent and so anchored ride safely on her back. It would seem that these youngsters are not in the habit of occupying the pouch as long as do the young kangaroos, which it. is said, remain there for a space of something like eight months, growing in that time from diminutive beings less than an inch long to fairly well-formed kangaroos of ten pounds weight which thrust out their necks when their parent is graz- ing and crop the grass beneath them. Even after they have learned to go alone they often climb back into the pouch again to ride whenever they are tired out. Opossums are anything but attractive or intelligent beasts. 5 The Opessums About the most marked exhibition of intelligence that they ever appear to display is their well-known trick of feigning death or playing possum as a last resort in danger. Even this has become so habitual with the species as to be almost or quite instinctive and it is doubtful if they ever knowingly pretend to be dead any more than the numerous beetles and spiders which possess the same _ habit. Nature most effectually assists the possum in making the ruse successful, as anyone who has ever seen it tried is bound to admit, for the long lean dull white jaws and black withered ears and skinny tail bear in themselves the very semblance of death. And when the possum plays possum he invariably draws back the gums from his glittering white teeth until he looks as if he might have been dead for a mvnth; especially as his fur has at all times the faded, colourless look and loose wind-blown texture of hair that has been exposed to wind and weather for an entire season. In cold weather opossums retire to their dens and only occasionally venture abroad wh»n there is snow on the ground. They are members of an almost tropical race that hates the cold, and wherever winter is an actual fact they are rarely found. ‘‘Opossums are very prolific, haviny two or three litters each year, each litter composed of from six to thirteen, in rare in- stances as many as fourteen our fifteen. The young remain with their mother about two months, :nd at times a brood of suck- lings may be found in the pouch, while a second brood the size of rats may be seen on her back, clinging to her fur with their hands and steadying themselves by winding their tails around her tail and legs. ‘‘The opossum somewhat resembles a little pig in his flexible snout, small black eyes, and erect ears; but he resembles the pig much more in his fondness for eating and the great variety of food that suits his taste. ‘‘His principal diet consists of insects, wild fruits, nuts and berries, varied with roots, reptiles, crayfish, carrion, eggs, small rats and mice, with additions of poultry, corn, sweet potatoes, and other farmyard delicacies.” ‘‘He is the natural enemy of the cotton rat, a destructive rodent living in vast numbers in the seaboard marshes of the Southern States. If all the food eaten by a possum during the year were divided into two piles according to its 6 By W. E. Carlin "POSSUM duced to feed in the forenoon instead of before daybreak. A SCARED Mr. Carlin, concealed a few feet ery alarm was caught admirably. of an 1 expression s comica s camera: and the ’possum’ i in th crabs and fish, and gradually th a shout as he pressed the bulb of h Es a C= Us sir av oF Do 2s 3 ae Ce a = 35 Ee a 3 - > 2 Hig The Opossums economic status in relation to the interests of mankind, there can be little doubt that the pile containing the matter, animate and inanimate, whose destruction is an advantage to us would be notably the larger.” The Negroes of the Southern States feel that the possum was especially created for their benefit and delight. They say, perhaps with truth, that no white man can ever fully appreciate the delicious joy of a moonlight possum hunt, or the delicate flavour of roasted possum. There are plenty of white people who do enjoy hunting possums by the light of the moon, and eating their game the next day; but the varying degrees of happiness are not to be measured, and the exquisite enjoyment that the possum yields the darkey may only be guessed at. There is considerable similarity between a possum hunt and a coon hunt, so far as method is concerned. The Negroes like best to go in parties with two or three cur dogs along. Besides these there must be an axe, at least one antiquated fowling-piece and a sack for carrying the game. When the dogs start off on a hot trail, the darkies follow as best they may, stumbling along over rocks and stumps among the shadows. The possum frightened by the racket behind him soon takes to a tree for safety and flattens himself down on a branch or snuggles up in a crutch, trusting to remain unobserved. But the Negroes flourishing their pitch-pine torches endeavour to locate their game by the glitter of its eyes in the flickering light, and if the tree is too big to cut down and difficult to climb, the rusty old firearm is brought into play. But as a general thing they much prefer capturing their possum alive if possible, either knocking him from his perch with a pole or chopping down the tree. As soon as he strikes the ground, dogs and niggers fall up- on him in one struggling, yelling heap, the dogs eager to kill the possum and their masters to get it away from them un- injured, and it is most astonishing how much rough handling an opossum can put up with without serious injury. Sometimes he is carried home swinging by his tail from the end of a stick which has been split and snapped onto that member in such a manner as to hold him perfectly helpless. The darkies’ idea in taking him home alive, is to fatten for a few weeks in captivity, joyfully overlooking the mere question Z The Opossums of economy in the matter; for the quantity of bread, yams and apples consumed by the greedy little beast in laying up a few additional ounces of fat is a thing to be marvelled at. Varieties of the Opossum The opossums of North America show but little variation, but naturalists have recognized three varieties as follows, the last being allied to the opossum of Mexico. I. 2. Virginia Opossum. Didelphis virginiana Kerr. Range and description as above. Florida Opossum. Didelphis virginiana pigra Bangs. Similar but smaller with longer and more slender tail. Range. Florida and lowland of Georgia along the Gulf Coast to Texas. Texas Opossum. Didelphis marsuptalis texensis Allen. Similar but tail longer than in either of the above, equal to nine- tenths instead of three-fifths the length of head and body and black at base for one-third of its length. Range. Texas. A WEW JERSEY ’POSSUM (Didelphis virginiana) By A. R. Dugmore “Playing 'Possum.” This vaim..1is actually alive. The picture of the animal climbing is the same individual photographee s hour or so later. EDENTATES OR TOOTHLESS ANIMALS (Edentata) THE edentates stand at the bottom of the series of the non- marsupial mammals. In distribution they are almost entirely re- stricted to South America, the best-known members of the group being the ant-eaters, sloths and armadillos. Of these only the ant-eaters are strictly ‘‘edentate’”’ or without teeth; so the name is somewhat misleading, although none of them have any front teeth (incisors) and such teeth as they do possess are often rudi- mentary and decidedly primitive in character. In former ages we had in North America gigantic beasts of this order, as is shown by the fossil remains of the megalonyx and mylodon, huge sloth-like animals, which existed along with the mastodon and _ sabre-toothed tigers and doubtless served as the chief source of food supply for the latter. When we think of these former giants it is disappointing to find that our only representative of the edentates within the limits of the United States to-day is a single species of arma- dillo which crosses the Mexican boundary into the state of Texas. This curious beast, representing the family Dasypodide, is by no means without interest. THE ARMADILLOS Family Dasypodide Nine-banded Armadillo Tatu novemcinctum Linnzus Also known as Peba Armadillo, Mulita. Length. 30 inches. Description. Body covered by a bony shell, consisting of two larger portions connected in the middle by eight bony rings 9 The Armadillos (nine on the sides), which hinge one to the other so as to permit of the animal rolling itself into a ball. Front of the head, fore-feet and tail similarly armoured, toes of fore-feet with large claws for digging. Colour brownish-black above, somewhat varied with yellow, below yellowish white, skin on sides of face flesh colour with a few scattered yellow hairs. Range. Southern Texas and Mexico southward to Paraguay. Covered from end to end with his bony armament the ar- madillo at once recalls the box tortoise; and his sudden transfor- mation, when harassed, into a round ball of horny plates reminds one not a little of the snapping shut of the shell of the turtle. The armadillo is an habitual digger, making his burrows in the dry soil of the arid regions in which he lives and ventur- ing forth mainly by night. In the matter of food he is not parti- cular, vegetable and animal matter both appear on his bill of fare and carrion forms no small part of his diet, while the insects and maggots which it attracts are not overlooked. The range of the armadillo within our borders is restricted and he is really more of a Mexican than an American, being one of a number of curious animals that push their way over our south-western boundary from that interesting country. ee QA x cnet By W. E. Carlin OPOSSUM (Didelphis virginiana) By David McCadden Showing young at the mouth of the pouch CETACEANS WHALES, DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES . (Cetacea) Few persons associate whales with the four-footed beasts of the land. So modified are they for the peculiar life that they lead that practically no external resemblance to their true kindred remains, and it is not surprising that the popular mind classes them as fish, to which, however, they bear no relationship. Whales are practically devoid of hair, which is characteristic of most mammals, its place in retaining the heat of the body being taken by the thick coating of fat or ‘‘blubber’’ lying just beneath the skin. There is no external trace of hind limbs and the fore-limbs are modified into flat flippers for swimming, while the tail is flat and forked like that of a fish, but it is flattened horizontally instead of vertically. There is practically no neck and the head, which is often very large, joins directly with the body. It is but natural, therefore, that the bones of the neck are very short and often joined solidly together. Whales have no close relationship with any other group of mammals and even the oldest fossil whales that have been discovered present much the same structure as the living species. Though they were undoubtedly descended from some form of land mammal, the change to an aquatic life must have taken place at a very remote period. As has been suggested, the immediate ancestors of the whales probably became adapted to a life on the shores of rivers and acquiring the habit of swimming were eventually carried out to sea, where peculiar environment has brought about their pre- sent structure. The cetaceans are entirely carnivorous, and their food generally consists of small mollusks, shrimps and fishes. They frequently associate in companies or ‘‘schools” and are for the most part inoffensive and rather timid. In size they vary from the smallest porpoises, somewhat less than ten feet long, to the largest whales which reach a length of sixty to eighty-five feet Whalebone Whales and constitute the largest known animals. The whales and their allies are grouped in several families as follows: |. Whalebone whales (Family Balanida). Size very large (length 30-85 feet), mouth enormous, no teeth, but the upper jaw provided with long strips of whalebone. Il. Sperm whales (Family Physeteride). Teeth all along the lower jaw, but absent entirely from the upper. Length 10-80 feet. III. Bottle-nosed whales (Family Zzphitd@v). One tooth on each side of the lower jaw or with no visible teeth at all; a narrow projecting snout. Length 20-30 feet. IV. Dolphins and porpoises (Family Delphinide). Teeth nume- rous in both jaws (or with one long horizontal tusk in the narwhal). Head in some species rounded in front while others have a projecting snout. Length 5-15 feet. WHALEBONE WHALES Family Balenide This family includes all of the true whales or toothless whales, as they are variously called, and the onl, large ‘‘ whale” not included here is the sperm whale which is really more closely allied to the porpoises and dolphins. The whales are charac- terized by their immense size, enormous head, and total absence of teeth. Small teeth are, it is true, formed very early in their development, but they are entirely absorbed before birth. Another peculiarity of the family is the presence in the mouth of ‘‘baleen” or whalebone. This consists of thin, flexible, horny plates, somewhat triangular in outline, which are attached cross- wise down each side of the roof of the mouth. The inner edges of these plates are much split up and frayed so that the slender filaments form a sieve reaching from the top to the bot- tom of the mouth, by which the water is strained away from the small marine animals that are scooped up by the whale and which constitute its food. By raising the tongue in the nearly closed mouth the water is expelled from the lips and the food remains. There is a popular idea that the water taken into the mouth is discharged through the nostril or “blow hole’ situated on {2 By C. William Beebe ix rings. shorter ears and tailand only s th @ & “a S rs 7 = Q al a 3 S (e) 4 iS AQ <a = fad xq AQ Q Q Z 0) im si WM A tropical species allied to our nine-banded Armadillo, but w Right Whale top of the head, and forms the well-known ‘‘spout” of the whale. This is quite a mistake, however, as the spout is simply the discharge of air from the lungs when the animal rises to the Longitudinal section through head of whale, showing position of whalebone and nasal opening. (After Lydekker.) surface to take a new breath, and the watery appearance of the spout is due to the condensation of moisture in the discharged breath and also to the fact that some water is thrown up if Skeleton of whale (Balena), showing contour of body, (After Lydekker.) the breath is expelled before the whale quite reaches the surface. We have three quite different types of whalebone whales on our coast, and from one to three species of each. Right Whale Balaena glactalis Bonnaterre Length. 50 to 60 feet. . Description. Head enormous, equal to one-third of the total length; highly arched above the level of the back; mouth cavity consequently large and whalebone very long. Bones 13 Right Whale of the neck always fused together, no fin on the back and no longitudinal groves on the throat. Colour black, some- times slightly varied with white below. Range. North Atlantic Ocean. Few persons have opportunities to study the habits of the large whales and those who follow the business of whaling do not, as a rule, record the facts that they may discover regarding the lives of these interesting creatures. The experience of most of us is limited to the glimpse of an occasional spout far out to sea or perhaps the sight of a stranded whale washed up on the beach, a great shapeless mass partially imbedded in the sand and often advanced in decay. It is not always easy to identify such specimens until the skeleton is laid bare, and it is not surprising, since much of our knowledge of whales is based upon skeletons and stranded specimens cast up at widely distant points, that zoologists are still in considerable doubt as to just how many kinds of whales exist. From the accounts of those who have studied these gigantic animals in life we learn that when not frightened they remain at the surface to breathe from one and a half to two and a half minutes during which time they spout from six to nine times and then disappear for ten to twenty minutes. When at the sur- face the top of the arched head and the middle of the back are the only parts which project from the water. This whale and the allied bowhead (Ba/ana mysticetus) of the Arctic regions are especially prized by the whalers on account of the great length of their whale-bone. Speaking of the right whale of the Pacific, which is closely allied to the Atlantic animal, Captain Scammon says: ‘‘ We find the habits of these animals when roaming over the ocean full of interest. They are often met with singly in their wanderings, at other times in pairs or triplets and scattered over the surface of the water as far as the eye can discern from the mast head. Toward the last of the season they are seen in large numbers crowded together. These herds are called ‘gams’ and they are regarded by experienced whalers as an indication that the whales will soon leave the grounds.” It is their habit, he states, to blow seven to nine times at a “‘rising’’ and then ‘‘turning flukes,” as the whalemen say, and elevating the tail from six to 14 Right Whale eight feet clear of the water, they go down for periods of twelve to fifteen minutes. Whales of all sorts have been so persistently pursued and killed that they are to-day very much reduced in numbers and the survivors have become so wary that it is much more difficult to hunt them than it was in former years. Originally whales came regularly along the New England coast and were hunted from shore, the boats putting out after them as soon as they were sighted, but as years passed they learned to keep farther out to sea and vessels had to be especially equipped for their pursuit. In his account of whale-hunting Scammon states that when the whale has been sighted the whale boats with their full equipment and manned by their regular crews are lowered from the vessel and start upon the chase. ‘‘ The whale is approached in the most cautious manner to avoid exciting it. If necessary, the oars are used, but in calm weather the paddles are resorted to. When within darting distance, which is about three fathoms, the order is given to the boat steerer to stand up. He instantly springs to his feet and, seizing the harpoon (to which a long rope is attached), he darts it into the whale. If opportunity offers a second iron is also thrown before the animal gets out of reach. When the harpoons are darted the order is given to ‘stern all’ and the oarsmen make every effort to force the boat astern in order to be well clear of the animal in its painful convulsions from the first wounds received. ‘“When struck the whale may attempt to escape by running, if so, every exertion is made by the boat’s crew to haul up the animal so as to shoot a bomb into it or work upon it with a hand lance or, if the creature descends to the depths below, which is called ‘sounding,’ every effort is made to check the movement by holding on to the line or by slowly slacking it. In this manceuvre the boat is occasionally hauled bow under water. Sometimes all the line is taken out almost instantly, when it is cut to prevent the boat from being taken down and the whale escapes. ‘‘The whale after being struck often runs to windward, thrash- ing its flukes in every direction. After going a short distance - it frequently stops or brings to, at the same time making a ter- rible noise called ‘bellowing,’ this sound is compared to that of a mammoth bull and adds much to the excitement of the chase and t5 Finback Whale capture. Other whales will not stop until they are hamstrung, as it were, by ‘spading.’ The spading process is performed by haul- ing the boat near enough to cut the cords that connect the body and the flukes either on top or underneath. A large vein runs along the side of the back, terminating at the juncture of the caudal fin which, if cut, will give the creature its death wound.” Another method of bringing the animal to a stop is by lacerating it with numerous harpoons detached from the ropes. ‘‘ When brought to, it usually remains quite stationary for a few minutes or will roll from side to side, giving the officer of the boat a good opportunity to shoot a bomb lance or use the hand lance with good effect, which soon dispatches it.” The ship is then brought alongside or, in calm weather, the whale is towed to it and the ‘‘cutting in,’ as it is termed, begins. A cutting stage is lowered down over the animal upon which the men may stand, the tackles are fastened to the carcass and the head is severed and hoisted on deck while the remainder is cut according to a regular system so that the blubber is re- moved in several great masses while the mutilated remnant of the monster floats away or sinks to the bottom. The blubber and baleen are removed from the head later. Scammon states that the great bowhead whale will sometimes yield as much as 275 barrels of oil and the right whale 130 bar- rels, while the whalebone of the two may amount to 3,000 and 1,550 pounds respectively. Whaling has been engaged in since 1712 by vessels from New England ports, especially Nantucket and New Bedford, and in England and Scotland it has been carried on for over a century. Guns for shooting the harpoons have superseded the hand- throwing process and improved harpoons have been introduced carrying explosive bombs which are calculated to kill the whale as soon as they strike, but so wary have the survivors become that in this instance modern improvements will have little effect in hastening extermination already so far advanced. Finback Whale Batenoptera physalis (Linnzus) Called also Rorqgual, Finner. Length. 40-50 feet. Humpback Whale; Sperm Whale Description. ead equal to or rather less than one-quarter the total length. Not arched, but broad and flat above. A fleshy fin is present on the back, and the throat is longitudinally furrowed while the bones of the neck are separate. Colour jet black above, including the flippers, white below, marbled on the sides by a combination of the two colours. Range. North Atlantic Ocean. The fin-back is said to be a more active and rapid swimmer than the right whale, but its general habits are much the same. Judging by stranded examples fin-back whales are the most com- mon of the large whales on our Atlantic Coast. Besides the common fin-back we have the blue whale (Balan- optera musculus), a larger species of a purplish slate colour, while other closely allied varieties occur in other parts of the ocean. Humpback Whale Megaptera nodosa (Bonnaterre) Length. 50 feet. Description. Similar to the finback whales, but with the back strongly convex and the flippers very long and scalloped on the edges. Sooty-black above, white beneath Range. North Atlantic Ocean, represented elsewhere by closely allied species. THE SPERM WHALES Family Physeteride Here belong two whales, one large and one small, but both recognized by their regularly toothed lower jaw, toothless upper jaw and high vertical forehead. Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus Linnzeus Also called Cachalot. Length. 60-80 feet. Pigmy Sperm Whale Description. Head oblong, level with the back on top and square and truncate in front, forming nearly one-third of the total length of the animal; lower jaw hallow and very narrow in front, armed with 22 to 24 large teeth on each side. Back with a hump on the neck and several humps farther back, but no dorsal fin. Colour black or blackish brown, lighter below, sometimes marbled. Range. Tropical and subtropical oceans, now very rare in the North Atlantic. The sperm whale or Cachalot is the largest of the toothed cetaceans, and in its great bulk recalls the whalebone whales, though the peculiar truncated head and narrow, shallow lower jaw, with its formidable array of teeth, serve easily to distinguish it. The nostrils of the sperm whale open at the extreme front of the head instead of farther back, as in the whalebone whales, and its ‘‘spout” issues diagonally forward instead of vertically up- ward. This peculiarity enables whalers to identify the sperm whale at very great distances. This animal seems to feed at great depths and is able to remain under water longer than any other species—sometimes for over an hour at a time, according to Captain Scammon. When at the surface it respires thirty to sixty times at short intervals with great regularity and then, ‘‘pitching head-foremost down- ward, turns his flukes high in the air and when gaining nearly a perpendicular attitude descends to a great depth.” The food of the sperm whale consists of various ‘‘squids” or cuttlefish. The ‘‘ambergris” discharged from its intestines is a valued article of perfume. - Pigmy Sperm Whale Kogia breviceps (Blainville) Length. 10-15 feet. Description. In a general way much like the preceding, but differs in its small size, slender curved teeth, and in the presence of a fin on the back. Range. North Atlantic and other oceans. Several specimens have been taken on our shores of late years, although it is a rare animal. 18 BOTTLE-NOSED WHALES Family Ziphiide These whales are rare on our coasts and comparatively little is known of their habits. They are intermediate between the sperm whales and dolphins, both in size and structure. They all possess protruding snouts and have never more than two teeth. The front of the skull enlarges with age, the forehead be- coming vertical or even projecting in very old individuals. Three species are known on our coast. Bottle-nosed Whale Hyperovdon rostratus (Miller) Length. 20 feet. Description. Forehead more or less vertical, as described above, beak prominent, a depression on the head around the blowhole, flippers and dorsal fin moderate. No teeth visible, though two can be found at the front of the lower jaw loosely bur- ied in the gums. Colour blackish lead, somewhat lighter below. Range. North Atlantic and doubtless other oceans. Ziphius Whale Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier Length. 15-20 feet. Description. Similar to the preceding, but with the teeth at the front of the lower jaw usually visible. Three of the neck vertebral bones are also separate, while in the bottle-nose all are united. Colour light stone-gray, darker on the belly. Range. Pelagic. Cow-fish Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby) Length. 16 feet. Description. Similar to the preceding species, but the male with 19 Bottle-nosed Dolphin a tooth on each side of the lower jaw at about the middle, female toothless. Skin very smooth and polished, uniform black all over with occasional lighter blotches. Range. North Atlantic, apparently a deep-water species. DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES Family Delphinide The smaller cetaceans, popularly known as dolphins and por- poises, compose this family. Properly speaking, the name dolphin belongs to those species which have a projecting snout, while porpoise refers to those with uniformly rounded head. With their usual perversity, however, our earliest settlers christened the commonest of these animals on our Atlantic Coast the ‘‘ porpoise,’ while in reality it is a true dolphin, the same as the ‘‘bottle- nose” of the coasts of Europe. Both dolphins and porpoises have a well-developed fin on the back and with one exception (the Grampus) have a large number of sharp teeth in both jaws. The other members of the family, the white whale and the narwhal are found only in the Arctic regions and are peculiar in many ways. Both lack the dorsal fin and the narwhal is devoid of teeth except for the single long protruding tusk. Bottle-nosed Dolphin Tursiops tursio (Fabricius) Called also Porpoise on our Atlantic Coast. Length. 9 feet. Description. Stout, forehead sloping, beak short and depressed, back fin about midway between the nose and the tip of the tail. Colour plumbeous gray above, lighter on the sides, shading gradually into pure white on the under surface. Teeth 22 in each jaw. Range. North Atlantic coasts from Maine to Florida and through the Gulf to Texas, also coasts of Europe. This is the most familiar cetacean of our Atlantic seaboard, 20 Common Dolphin ; Spotted Dolphin and few are the visitors to our seaside resorts who have not seen a school of ‘‘porpoises” passing up or down the coast just beyond the breakers, their arched backs and pointed fins rising at regular intervals above the surface of the waves and disap- pearing again, as the animal continues on its undulating course. Occasionally with a stronger leap than usual the powerful fluked tail is seen above the water and sometimes the entire body is exposed. Like other members of the family, porpoises are sociable and always gather in herds or ‘‘schools” of varying size and in this way no doubt they pursue with better effect the mackerel, herring and other fishes upon which they feed, Often at sea porpoises will associate themselves with some passing ship and for miles at a time plunge along close to her side, perhaps taking the vessel for some gigantic member of their own tribe. I have watched them travelling in this manner for long intervals and they kept close to the prow, as if piloting the ship on its way and apparently with no thought of the scraps or refuse which they might have secured had they been following in our wake. Several species of similar habits occur in the north Atlantic which are described below, while others are found in the other seas. Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis Linnzeus Length. 7 feet. Description. Beak longer and narrower than in the preceding. Colour variable; back, fin and tail black, under parts white, sides gray. The black descends on the sides to about the middle, and there is a black ring around the eye and a black line to the beak. There is usually a dusky band from the jaw to the flipper and one or two stripes on the sides. Teeth 47 to 50 above, and 46 to 51 below. Range. Pelagic. Apparently not common on our coasts, but has been taken in New York Harbour, Wood’s Hole, etc. Spotted Dolphin Prodelphinus plagiodon (Cope) Length. 7 feet. Striped Dolphin; Harbour Porpoise Description. Very similar in shape to the last. Purplish gray above, white below, upper parts spotted with white, lower with dark gray. Teeth 37 above, 34 below. Range. Atlantic and Gulf coasts north to Cape Hatteras. Striped Dolphin Lagenorhynchus acutus (Gray) Length. 8 feet. Description. Beak very short, a mere rim with a depression between it and the forehead on each side. Colour black on back, rest of body gray, sides with white and yellowish patches; a narrrow black stripe from the base of the tail half- way to the middle of the body; eye surrounded with black and black lines from it to the snout and flipper; flippers black. Teeth 35 above, 37 below. Range. North Atlantic, southward to Cape Cod. Harbour Porpoise Phocena phocena (Linnzus) Length. 5 feet. Description. Head rounded in front, no beak or snout. Fin of the back more triangular than in the dolphins. Colour dark slate or blackish, shading gradually to white on the belly, sides somewhat tinged with pink or yellowish, and a dark band from the lower jaw half way to the flipper. Teeth 26 in each jaw. Range. North Atlantic south to New Jersey; also on coasts of Europe and in the Pacific. As the bottle-nose (7ursiops tursio) is the commonest of the dolphins on our coast, this is the best known of the round-headed or porpoise group. It is apparently more common on European coasts than with us and, being more northern in its range, is not so familiar as the common boitle-nose to our sea-shore visitors. The five species which follow are all allied to the harbour porpoise, but have striking peculiarities which have earned for them distinctive popular names. 22 Blackfish; Grampus; Killer Blackfish Globtocephala melas (Traill) Called also Pilot Whale, Ca’ing Whale. Length. 15 feet. Description. Size large, forehead vertical, high, sometimes even overhanging the lips which are slightly protruding; flippers very long (4 feet); back fin situated in front of the middle, and sloping backward. Colour uniform black with a V-shaped white mark on the breast connecting with a white stripe down the belly. Teeth 10 in each jaw. Range. North Atlantic, south to Long Island on the American side. Further south it is replaced by the southern blackfish G. brachypterus, Cope), entirely black, with much_ shorter ippers and only 8 teeth in each jaw. This large animal resembles somewhat the bottle-nosed whale (Hyperoddon), but is recognized at once by its long flippers and numerous teeth. It is said to be more gregarious than other species, associating in herds of two or three hundred individuals which blindly follow their leader like a flock of sheep. Grampus Grampus griseus (Cuvier) Length. 10 feet. Description. Similar to the blackfish, with the same high fore- head, but recognized by the higher back-fin, and the absence of teeth in the upper jaw. Colour dark gray above, lighter below and on the head, sides with irregular lighter stripes, flippers black mottled with gray. Teeth absent above, 6 to 14 in the lower jaw. Range. North Atlantic southward to New Jersey, also coasts of Europe and north Pacific. Killer Orca orca (Linnzus) Length. 20 feet. Description. Size large, forehead flat, back-fin enormous (6 feet 23 White Whale; Narwhal high in the male), flippers short and rounded. Colours black above and white below in strong contrast; the white extends upward on the sides in two stripes and there is a white spot above each eye and a purplish area behind the back fin. Teeth to to 13 in each jaw, large and sharp. Range. Oceans, generally distributed. The other members of the dolphin family are easy going, rather timid animals subsisting on fish and smaller marine animals, but in the killer we find all the fierce predatory characteristics of our carnivorous land animals or the sharks among the fishes. They kill and devour the blackfish and larger whales‘ as well as seals and large fishes. Captain Scammon says: ‘‘ The attack of these wolves of the ocean upon their gigantic prey may be likened to a pack of hounds holding the stricken deer at bay. They cluster about the animal's head, some of their number leaping over it, while others seize it by the lips and haul the bleeding monster under the water and, when captured, should the mouth be open they eat out the tongue.” White Whale Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas) Length. 11 feet. Description. Head rounded, neck slightly narrowed, flippers small and rounded, no fin on the back. Colour entirely white. Teeth g in each jaw. Range. Arctic seas, straying southward rarely as far as Cape Cod. The white whale is one of the characteristic animals of the frozen north and though forced a little southward by the ice of winter it rarely reaches the boundary of the United States. In early summer when the ice breaks up and the herring and other fishes throng the bays to spawn, the white whales pursue them and large numbers of the cetaceans are frequently stranded in shallow water where the Eskimos kill them with ease. Narwhal Monodon monoceras Linnzus Length. 12 feet. Description. Head short and rounded, flippers short and broad. 24 Narwha no fin on the back. Colour dark gray above, white below. sides and back with darker spots. No teeth in the lower jaw and but one above—a long horizontal twisted tusk, 5 to 6 feet in length. (A short rudimentary tusk is imbedded in the skull on the opposite side.) Range. Arctic seas, accidental farther south. This curious ‘‘sea unicorn” is another inhabitant of the far north, and its immense tusk plays an important part in the weapons and tools of the Eskimo. This tusk is really one of the front teeth, and while it appears to protrude from the middle line of the head, an examination of the skull will show that it: belongs wholly to one side, which is greatly developed at the expense of the corresponding portion of the other side. A second rudimentary tusk will also be found imbedded in the bone of the skull. 25 MANATEES AND DUGONGS ( Strenia) THESE animals on account of their aquatic habits have been frequently associated with the whales, but there seems no real relationship between them and it is probable that each has departed from the stock of the terrestrial mammals at a different point. Just what the affinities of the manatees are we have no more definite knowledge than in the case of the whales, nor doe: paleontology throw any light on the question. The resemblance between the manatees and whales is prac: tically limited to the flipper-like fore limbs, flat tail and scarcity or absence of hair on the skin. The tail of our manatee, how- ever, is not forked like that of the whales and the head is wholly different, relatively small and provided with a series of square- topped molar teeth, while some species have incisors as well. Only about eight species of these curious animals are known. THE MANATEES Family Trichechide This family includes only the manatees. The dugongs of the Old World and the peculiar Steller’s sea cow which formerly inhabited the north Pacific, being arranged in separate groups. Florida Manatee Trichechus latirostris (Harlan) Called also Sea Cow. Length. 9 feet. Description. General shape cylindrical, neck short, not much con- tracted, forehead oblique, nose, as seen from the front, trian- gular, lips thick, upper one clothed with bristles and capable 20 SUALIU] - . M as JSALVNV i Florida Manatee of much expansion. Tail flat and widened, then tapering to a point, flipper rather long (1 foot), eyes small, skin with a few scattered hairs. Colour bluish black, somewhat paler below and gray on the muzzle. Range. Formerly the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts of the United States, now restricted to rivers and lagoons of south-eastern Florida and becoming very scarce. The exact number of species of manatee which occur on the coasts of the New World is a matter of some doubt, but it is pretty certain that the Florida manatee is different from the Trichechus americanus of South America. Unlike the whales, manatees are not lovers of the open ocean, but remain close along shore, feeding in the bays and lagoons on the various water plants and grasses. From the meagre accounts that we have of these animals in their native haunts they seem to spend their time lazily floating or wallowing about with the upper part of the head generally exposed. Those kept in captivity usually rest on the bottom of their tanks and rise to the surface for air at periods of from two to six minutes. They accomplish this ‘‘with the least perceptible movement of the tail and flapping motion of the paddles, raising the upper part of the body until the head reaches the surface, when the air is admitted through the nostril flap valves which are closely shut after the operation.” * They seemed ill at ease when the water was drawn off and were apparently unable to progress on land. When feeding they seemed to fan the strands of grass and sea weed into the mouth by means of the copious bristles which surround it. It is sad to contemplate the extinction of these curious beasts which present so many interesting peculiarities to the naturalist, and problems in evolution which he has yet to solve. Their harmlessness would seem to warrant their preservation, but it seems on the other hand to aid in their destruction. As fast as the settlement of the country makes their haunts more accessible their numbers lessen and, being tropical in their nature, the frosts and cold spells which have of recent years prevailed in Florida with such ruin to the orange groves have also played sad havoc with the remaining small band of manatees. * Crane. “ Proc. Zool. Soc.,’’ London, 1880, p. 456. UNGULATES OR HOOFED ANIMALS ( Ungulata ) To this order belong most of the largest mammals. Repre- sentatives occur in all parts of the world except Australia and Madagascar, but they are most abundant in the tropics of the Old World. Nearly all the ‘‘game’’ mammals belong to this order and through the persistent efforts of the hunters quite a number of species are rapidly approaching extinction. Here too belong the domestic animals which have served man as beasts of burden and as a source of food and clothing from time immemorial—the horse, ass, cow, sheep, goat and hog. The ungulates are herbivorous, and many of them are gre- garious, associating in large herds. In structure they differ from all the other orders in the pos- session of rounded horny hoofs which terminate the toes and cor- respond to the claws of the rodents and carnivores. All ungulates are also digitigrade, walking on the tips of the toes with the heel much elevated. In most species the legs are decidedly long, and the feet much elongated, while there is always a reduction in the number of toes. This reaches its extreme in the horse which has but one toe on each foot, though the remnants of two others still remain in the slender bones known as ‘“‘splints.” The smallest ungulates are the chevrotains and some of the antelopes of Asia and Africa which scarcely reach a height of twelve inches at the shoulder, from these they range all the way to the gigantic rhinoceros and Indian buffalo, and the slender giraffe. The order is divisible into two groups—the Perissodactyli or odd-toed ungulates, including the horse and zebra (one toe); the rhinoceros and tapir* (three toes), and the Artiodactyli or even-toed ungulates; the hippopotamus (four toes); camel and giraffe (two toes), and the pig, deer, sheep, ox, etc. (four toes, two of which are rudimentary). The deer and their allies constitute the section of ruminants to which all the domestic cattle belong and which are characterized by a * The tapir has four toes on the front feet. = ) HS) Ungulates peculiar four-parted stomach and the habit of casting up the hastily cropped grass for further mastication when resting later on. This operation is called ‘‘chewing the cud,” and one of the compartments of the stomach serves as a receptacle for the food, while it awaits this supplementary chewing. The canine teeth are often wanting in the hoofed animals and in the ruminant group the front teeth or incisors of the upper jaw are also lacking. The large grinders or molar teeth are always present and exhibit the most complicated type of tooth known. Most of the ruminants are further peculiar in the possession of horns or bony ant- lers growing out from the top of the skull. Great numbers of fossil ungulates have been discovered and it has been Foot of a ruminant (sheep) Possible to show the gradual evolution eM eal osc of the living species through a_ long (SEI See SY Seales of extinct ancestors. ponding toe Danes ote eee ee Remains of extinct horses and rhi- noceroses have been found abundantly within the United States as well as animals for which we have no familiar names. To-day, however, our native ungulates are comparatively few in number and are grouped in four families, all of them belonging to the even-toed division. I. Peccaries (Family Dicotylide@). Pig-like animals, not ruminant and without horns. Canine teeth large and prominent, front teeth (incisors) in both jaws. Il. Deer, elk, etc. (Family Cervid@). Ruminant animals with bony branching antlers on the head of the males (and females also in the caribou), which are shed every year. Rudimentary canines generally present but front teeth (incisors) only in the lower jaw. ; Ill. Prong horn (Family Antilocapride). Allied to the cattle (Bovide), but the hollow horns are forked and are shed as in the deer. IV. Cattle and their allies (Family Bovide). Ruminant animals with hollow horns fitting over bony prominences on the skull in both males and females. These horns are 29 Texas Peecary straight or curved, but mever branched, and are not shed annually. Teeth as in the deer, but the canines are entirely lacking. PECCARIES Family Dicotylide Texas Peccary Tayassu angulatum (Cope) Length. 34 inches. Description. Pig-like, with short erect ears, no tail, bristly hair and a scent gland on the back. Individual hairs banded black and white, producing a mottled appearance, the face, mane of the back, throat, legs, underparts, ears and hoofs are black, while a white collar-like band reaches from the sides of the neck over the shoulders. Range. Texas and south-western Arkansas. The closely related collared peccary is found in Mexico. Peccaries are the American representatives of the pig family and take the place of the wild boars of Europe. Like many other products of the western hemisphere, they are an improve- ment upon their like in the Old World inasmuch as they are distinctly more advanced in development. They have a compli- cated stomach, somewhat like that of the ruminant mammals, and have three instead of four toes on the hind feet. In general appearance the peccary resembles a small black pig, with a mane and slender legs, and he is said to root and wallow in a truly pig-like fashion. The home of the Texas peccary is low river bottoms with dense thickets and overgrown swamps. Here he may be found singly or in small droves feeding on the acorns, pecans and wal- nuts or grubbing up roots. Spots which are particularly fre- quented by them usually smell strongly of the peculiar skunk-like odor which they emit. Whatever there may be in the stories of the fierceness 0» the South American peccaries, our species seems to be a harmless es souIsnC “YW Ag (isspiv, nsspdo—) KAVOOUd GAYVIIOIN Le 7 7 2 a _) 7 7 - ‘We : ; ; vee ee ae ray = | Vs ‘] 1 4 an “ a Sy ia oe ad re sd e 7. St = = or oa) ae 2p 4 ~~ ih eatin . ™ i A Seria ¢ . ak 2. : P , : rT § ~ _ ¥ — J aay Low a 7 — eo po American Elk beast, preferring to escape by flight rather than turn upon its pur- suers, though its sharp teeth and well-developed tusks would make it a iather formidable enemy. DEER AND THEIR ALLIES Family Cervide To this family belong the majority of our American hoofed animals. As has already been explained, their most distinctive characteristic lies in their solid horns or antlers, which are shed once a year. The new horn grows rapidly and is for a time soft, full of blood vessels and provided with a downy covering known as the ‘‘velvet.’”’ When the full growth is attained the horn becomes hard and the velvet wears off. The first antlers are very simple, but each succeeding pair is, as a rule, more and more branched, so that a large number of ‘‘ points” indicates to the hunter an old individual. American Elk Cervus canadensis (Erxleben) Also called Wapiit. Length. 8 feet. Height at shoulder, 5 feet 4 inches. Length of antler, 50-65 inches. Description. Body above yellowish brown, beneath nearly black, head, chest and neck dark brown, legs clove brown, a yel- lowish white area on the rump about the base of the tail. Female rather lighter coloured. The antlers borne only by the male curve outward and backward with curved branches or tines projecting forward at nearly uniform distances, the lowest pair directly over the forehead. Range. Formerly throughout the Northern states and Canada, ex- tending southward in the mountains. Now nearly extinct in the East. In the Northwest its place is taken by the closely related Roosevelt’s elk and in the Arizona Mountains by Merriam’s elk. This splendid game animal is now all but extinct east of the Mississippi river; a victim to the advance of civilization and the 3t American Elk greed of the hunter. But over the miles and miles of country which he formerly roamed at will his memory will be preserved for all time in the names of towns, counties, rivers, lakes and mountains. Any locality where elk were particularly abundant or where perhaps the last one was killed has been christened in honour of the noble beast, and apparently there is not a State lying within the former range of the species that has not its Elk county or Elk township. The name, like many another be- stowed by our early settlers, is unfortunate, as the elk of the Old World is practically identical with our moose, while the Ame- rican elk is a true stag, having its counterpart in the red deer of Europe. Wapiti, the Indian name, is distinctive and preferable, but, of course, a change in a name so well established is out of the question, and all we can do is to remember that elk in America and Europe refers to very different animals. In parts of Quebec the elk may possibly still exist or, at any rate did, not so many years ago and here are often found the cast-off horns buried in moss and loam or washed from the bed of a river. In northern Michigan and Wisconsin a few may still persist. In the Eastern States the elk seems to have lingered longest in the wilds of central Pennsylvania and men are still living who can remember the killing of the ‘‘last elk” of their several localities about fifty years ago. The Rocky Mountains and ranges to the westward now con- tain all the elk that are left and at the present rate of killing their extermination would seem to be not far distant. Like many of the Cervide, elk are gregarious and polygamous, associating in moderate-sized herds, the strongest bull acting as master of the cows and driving the other aspirants off by them- selves until such time as they can prove their superiority and acquire a herd of their own. At the pairing season frequent savage encounters take place between the bulls, which charge one another with lowered heads in the manner of all the deer tribe. Occasionally two individuals have been found with their great branching antlers locked inextricably to- gether or perhaps merely the antlers themselves are discovered, silent witnesses of a tragedy of former years, ending in starvation or an attack by wolves, the elk in their unfortunate predicament being unable to save themselves from either one fate or the other. “After the pairing season,” writes Lydekker, ‘“wapiti collect in 32 BULL ELK, OR STAG (Cervus canadensis) By A. R. Dugmore American Ele large herds, which used formerly to number several hundred individuals, and wander about for a time till they finally select their winter feeding grounds. These are usually open hills where the ground is kept more or less free of snow by the wind, so that such food as there is at this season may be obtained with the least difficulty. During the hot weather, when they are much persecuted by flies and mosquitoes, wapiti resort to water, in which they will stand for hours ; and, in the pairing season at least, the old stags are fond of wallowing in mud-holes from which they emerge coated with dirt and presenting anything but a prepossessing appearance. The antlers are shed in March and the new pair free from the velvet by the end of August or beginning of September. Saplings of aspen or pine appear to afford the favourite rubbing posts for freeing the antlers from the last remnants of the velvet. In a wild state the hind breeds when two or three years old ; the number of fawns at a birth being sometimes two, or rarely three, although one is the most common.” As to food the elk is not particular. Mr. Caton says: ‘“ All the grasses and most of the weeds within his reach are taken freely and the leaves and twigs of all the deciduous trees are alike enjoyed. A considerable proportion of his daily food he desires to be arboreous, yet if deprived of it he will keep in good condition on herbaceous food alone. In winter he will take the coarsest food, and will eat freely even that which the ox and the horse reject.” Elk feed leisurely during the morning and afternoon, usually resting at mid- day, and unlike most deer they are not active during the night. George Bird Grinnell has recently given us an excellent pen picture of a herd of elk which we cannot do better than quote. He writes : ‘* From a distant ravine comes the shrill sweet whistle of a great bull elk as he utters his bold challenge to all rivals far and near. You can see him plainly as he walks out from the timber and slowly climbs the hill, followed by the group of watchful cows; and he is a splendid picture. Short-bodied, strong-limbed, round and_ sleek- coated, he is a marvel of strength if not of grace. His yellow body is in sharp contrast with the dark brown head and mane, and the hugely branching antlers, wide spread and reaching far back over his shoulders, seem almost too much for him to carry; so that as he marches along with ponderous tread each step seems to shake the earth. At intervals he throws back his head and utters his wild call, and before its first notes reach the ear you can see the white steam of his breath as it pours forth into the frosty air, His cows feed near to a3 Varieties of the Elk him as he steps along or if one straggles too far he moves slowly toward her, and shaking his mighty horns warns her to return. If you fire a shot at one of that band, speedily the old bull will show himself the herder and protector of his family. Rushing about from point to point he will gather up cows and calves into a close bunch and will drive them off over the hills, threatening the laggards with his horns and using them too with cruel effect if the cows do not hurry. No chivalry this on the part of the old bull. . |. He drives them for- ward not because he wishes to protect them from death, but because the cows are his and he does not intend to be robbed of his wives and children.”’ Varieties of the Elk As with most animals of wide range the elk varies in different parts of its habitat. Three varieties have been described and it is probable that the animals formerly inhabiting the Eastern States differed somewhat from the Rocky Mountain elk. Lack of specimens will however probably leave this question forever in doubt. 1. American Elk. Cervus canadensis (Erxl.) Described above, range west to and including the Rocky Mountains. 2. Roosevelt's Elk. Cervus occidentalis Smith. Larger and darker coloured, with heavier horns. Range. Coast range of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. 3. Merriam’s Elk. Cervus merriami Nelson. Nose darker and head and legs redder than C. canadensis, but not so dark as C. occidentalis. Skull very massive, broader than either of the above. Antlers straighter at the tips. Range. White Mountains of Arizona and Mogollon Mountains, New Mexico. Virginia Deer Odocotleus virginianus (Boddaert) Length. 6 feet. Height at shoulder. 3 feet 1 inch. Length of Antler. 20-24 inches. Description. Bright rufous chestnut above in summer with a black band on the chin, throat, under parts and inside of legs white, tail brownish above, white beneath. In winter the upper parts are yellowish gray with white about the eye. Antlers curving 34 : “poys suleq sf srey auiuins oy} UayM Butids ut zyeod jo UOTPIPUOoS pulmoys ‘2 SI “4 ABT ‘Big coz judy ‘f sy Ol Judy ‘rv sy 2 judy ‘Sag SUGLINY SIMA ONIDLaESD Gisveponne snn4a)) MTA NV ToJuImM 94 pue ut pajegneevere) st trey J Virginia Deer outward and then upward, the tips curving in again toward one another, there is a short upright spike near the base, beyond which the beam gives off two upright branches making three nearly equal prongs. At no point does the antler branch dichotomously. Range. Eastern North America, separable into several geographical varieties and represented westward to the Pacific by other closely related races. (See below.) The Virginia deer in one or other of its varieties was originally spread abundantly over our entire country, but the encroachments of agriculture upon the wilderness, the inroad of the lumberman, the fire which ever travels in his wake and the spread of towns and cities have driven the deer from a large portion of their former range and sadly decreased their numbers elsewhere. Such conditions now pre- vail through many parts of Pennsylvania where the devastation of the lumbermen and the ruin of the magnificent primeval forest are occurrences of yesterday. Farther north and south, in wilds as yet untouched, the deer still hold their own, and in New Jersey a few remain, thanks to the inhospitable pine barrens and impenetrable swamps, as well as to wise legislation properly enforced. In New England within the last few years these beautiful creatures have ventured to return and dwell again in the haunts of their ancestors, wherever the destruction worked by civilization has not been too severe. Wise !aws passed for their protection have yielded good results more quickly than the most sanguine could have hoped. In 1853 Thoreau wrote: ‘‘Minot says his mother told him she had seen a deer come down the hill behind her house and cross the road and meadow in front. Thinks it may have been eighty years ago.” Evidently Thoreau supposed that that wild deer seen in Concord about 1770 was one of the last of its race ever to visit that part of the country. Yet if he had lived to be an old man he might frequently have seen them, if not at Concord, at least at other spots in New England from which they were supposed to have been driven forever. Not the pampered stock bred in game preserves, but the sturdy descendants of the native wild deer that the red men hunted throush rough forests when the whole country be- longed to them alone. Now they may be Seen in quiet country places in various parts of New England, browsing at the edge of leafy woodlands or resting in 35 Virginia Deer the shade of wide-topped elms in high windy pastures along with the larmer’s cattle. It would certainly be difficult to find a creature lead- ing a happier, more carefree life than our wild deer of the present day. After generations of persecution and terror, reduced to lonely individuals hiding afraid in distant forests, chased by dogs and shot at by man, fearful of greeting one of their own kind even, lest it prove an enemy in disguise, they are allowed once more to enjoy the land in safety. True to their name they have already forgiven man his savage treatment and show but slight alarm at his presence, taking retribution only in an occasional visit to his growing corn and fields of herd grass and clover. They may now call to each other in the twilight without fear of betraying themselves to the hunter and roam the conntry over in families or alone as suits each one the best. If a dog so much as chases them he may be shot lawfully and _ his owner fined or imprisoned. What does it matter to them that in certain counties they may be hunted for a few weeks each year; who would not be willing to be shot at occasionally during so short a period with the chances in favour each time of getting away untouched, if in return he could enjoy such splendid health throughout the year? They now have probably fewer natural foes to contend with than almost any other creature. Foxes, it is likely, get afew of the fawns in early summer, but the danger from them must be insignificant as compared with that the deer were compelled to face or avoid when the land was wild and Indians, panthers, wolves and lynxes hunted them winter and summer alike. It is said that in some parts deer are already making decided nuisances of themselves by foraging on the farmer’s crops; I trust it is not a far look ahead to the time when it will be true of them where ! live in New Hampshire. Only last August a full-grown buck with goodly antlers came ‘nto our field at noon, and, walking about in the tall grass, probably made as good a meal of English grass and alsike clover as his fore- bears were in the way of getting when they had only the wild growths of the forest and wild meadows to choose from. When | see them enjoying all the splendid freedom of wind and sky over the brown pastures, or bounding away with tails in the air, | feel that of all the creatures driven away by the early settlers, no 36 THE RAPID GROWTH OF AN ELK’S ANTLERS ig t..photographed April a. Fig. 2, Aprilio. Fig. 3, April2o. Fig. 4, May 7. Virginia Deer other could be so welcome a returner as the wild deer, even if he does prove in a way destructive. The deep snows and severe weather of 1898-9 yielded good opportunities for noting their custom of yarding. In February when out on my snow-shoes | came upon one of these yards in the birch woods within a mile of the farm house where { write; a series of deep irregular paths marking out a loose net-work over about an acre of buried stumps and blackberry bushes. It had already been abandoned a day or two when | found it, a straight path leading off toward the northwest showing the most recent tracks. The yard had evidently been made and inhabited by a lone doe, possibly two or three with their fawns, the tracks all being alike and of small size. In many places where the snow was only two or three feet deep they had tunnelled along beneath the heavy laden undergrowth for short distances. Again I found narrow open paths, five feet or more in depth, with almost perpendicular sides. Apparently they had fed almost altogether upon the ground growths under the snow, the twigs beside the paths showing little signs of having been browsed upon. Four strands of barbed wire proved no obstacle to them, they passed under the bottom wire as freely as a fox or dog would do. Once or twice during the winter | found the trail of what must have been an unusually large stag in the swamps and young pine growths near there and along the borders of cultivated fields; his big hoof- prints with their widespread dew claws were separated by astonish- ingly long intervals at times. To go out into the forest with the fixed intention of killing anything so beautiful and harmless as a deer seems brutal and heart- less enough any way you care to look at the matter. Yet the kindest hearted of men do so every fall, and though they may learn to hate themselves for every deer they have shot, they cannot give it up, and look forward just as eagerly to the next year’s shooting, for there is no other sport to be compared to deer-stalking in the autumn woods just after a rain in the night, when the west wind is rising to dry the leaves and prevent the sound of a breaking twig from carrying too far. Deer-stalking is leisurely work. You move quietly along among the trees, keeping your face to the wind and watching the ground for fresh tracks. When you find tracks that lead you toward the wind you follow them as noiselessly as possible, endeavoring to 37 Virginia Deer learn from their appearance just how long since the deer tha‘ made them preceded you; when in wet places the water has not yet settled in the foot-prints, it is time to look sharply ahead among the trees for a glimpse of your quarry. Deer usually wander about feeding all the morning, following a more or less direct course according to the lay of the land. Along the foot of a ridge by the edge of a swamp is a favourite feeding ground of theirs, and they like to trace the windings of a trout brook between low hills. in the middle of the day they lie down to rest in the lee of a thick clump of evergreen, where they can watch their tracks for any enemy that may be following them. Before lying down they make a practice of going back a little distance on their tracks to make sure that they are not followed. So when you have been tracking them all the morning and toward noon _ perceive three tracks ahead of you in place of ome, you may feel pretty certain the deer you are after is resting in some thick clump not many rods ahead. But unless there is snow on the ground to enable you to see the tracks a long way in front of you, you will hardly notice the back tracks before you have come so close as to alarm your game and send it flying off among the trees, showing you just the white flash of his tail as he disappears. If not badly frightened, however, he will probably not run very far before stopping to look back at you, choosing, if possible, a thickly wooded knoll or a hummock at the edge of the swamp and here you may perhaps get a shot at him if you will make a slight detour and approach him from one side; to follow him directly would be useless, for he is earnestly watching his back tracks, and is certain to see you long before you can possibly see him. Varieties of the Virginia Deer One or other form of Virginia or white-tailed deer is found in nearly every part of the United Sates. They are all geographic variations of the same stock and they exhibit differences in direct pro- portion to the effect produced by the peculiar climate and surround- ings in which they live. Whether they shade gradually into one another as their ranges approach, or whether differentiation has gone further and they are to be regarded as different ‘‘ species” are ques- tions that have not yet been definitely settled in many cases. Without 38 (sisuappuns snaa9) GUAH UNV OVIS ATH wowsng ‘yy Aq Mule Dee considering the fine technical points of difference, the described forms are as follows. 1. Virginia Deer. Odocoileus virginianus (Boddaert). Southern States north of Florida and Louisiana to the Middle States. 2. Northern Deer. O. virginianus borealis Miller. Rather larger and grayer. Range. New England States and Canada to northern New York. j. Banner-tatled Deer. O. virginianus macrourus (Rafinesque). Smaller and paler coloured. Range. Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, etc. 4. Florida Deer. O. osceola Bangs. Very small, and exceedingly dark coloured, about one quarter smaller than the Virginia deer. Range. Florida. Louisiana Deer. O. louisiane G. Allen. Similar but larger. Range. Louisiana. Texan or Fan-tailed Deer. O. texensis (Mearns). A small very pale deer with small antiers. Range. Texas and northern Mexico. 7. Arizona Deer. O. couesi (Rothrock). Small and pale in colour but with no black edgings to the ears. Range. Arizona and Northern Mexico. 8. White-tailed Deer. O. leucurus (Douglass). Similar to the banner-tail. Range. California to Washington. Mule Deer Odocotleus hemtonus (Rafinesque) Also called Black-tatled deer. Length. 6to7 feet. Height at shoulder. 3 feet 4 inches. Length of antlers. 25-30 inches. Description. Body heavy, ears very large, thickly haired, tail white with black tip, naked below at the base. Pale dull yellowish in summer, bluish-gray in autumn, front of the face between the eyes dusky, rest of face, throat, abdomen and inside of legs white. Antlers forking equally (dichotomous) and each prong again bifurcate. Range. North Dakota to Texas and Colorado and west to Washing- ton, Oregon and northern Californa. Closely allied varieties occur in California south of San Francisco. Unless we are familiar with an animal it is often difficult to know the origin of the popular names that have been bestowed upon it. In the present case we should on first thought picture a large heavy 39 Mule Deer animal approaching the moose in build, but such a conception is erroneous. The mule deer, like the jack-ass rabbit, owes its name not to its shape but to its enormous ears, which as we know are the most characeristic feature of the mule. Though but little exceeding the Virginia deer in height, the present species is a heavier, more coarsly built animal with shorter legs and with very different antlers. It inhabits usually the rough broken country but often ascends to the higher valleys and plateaus of the mountains. Besides its peculiar- ities of structure the mule deer has a distinctive gait. Instead of the continuous easy springs of the Virginia deer it proceeds by a jerky series of bounds, all four legs apparently touching the ground together, or to quote from Lewis and Clarke who first discovered the species: ‘‘It does not lope but jumps.” The range of the mule deer is quite extensive through the West, and as will be seen below, the Southern representatives form distinct varieties. The mule deer was one of those many Western novelties which Audubon and his companions met with on their memorable journey up the Missouri River in 1843. He says of his first sight of it: ‘‘On winding along the banks, bordering a long and wide prairie, intermingled with willows and other small brushwood, we suddenly came in sight of four mule deer which, after standing a moment on the bank and looking at us, trotted leisurely away, without appear- ing to be much alarmed. After they had retired a few hundred yards, the two largest, apparently males, elevated themselves on their hind legs and pawed each other in the manner of the horse. They occasionally stopped for a moment, then trotted off again, appearing and disappearing from time to time, when becoming suddenly alarmed they bounded off at a swift pace until out of sight. They did not trot or run as irregularly as our Virginia deer, and they appeared at a distance darker in cglour.” As time went on and settlers and hunters spread over the great West the mule deer became a familiar animal, distinguished by all from the Virginia deer by its curious gait, its equally forking antlers and its black tail; the latter giving rise over a large part of its range to the name “‘black-tailed deer,’’ an appellation belonging more strictly to the animal of the Columbia River region of the Pacific Coast. As a game animal it is held by many to be unsurpassed. Mr. A. G. Wallihan says of this species: ‘‘ For me, at least, there is a charm 4° SHE HEARS A WHISTLE ACROSS THE CREEK A STARTLED DOE; < & “.. “ ; + ee PSEA. came ed E Carlin By W WHITE-TAIL DEER (Odocoteus virginzanus) Ans ep i Oh - : te ea tae : vie ~ Df) i er ee bok varieties of Mule Deer and Allied Species about the blacktail or mule deer, that no other game possesses. Barring the bighorn, their meat is the best, their hide tans into the best buckskin, and you turn from the large elk or the agile antelope to the graceful beauty of the blacktail buck, and find there the greatest satisfaction. The head of the bighorn is a finer trophy, no doubt, and you are led to grand scenery in the pursuit of him, but it is heart- breaking work. Where you find the blacktail you will find other pleasures, for he delights in the most charming bits of country to be found. He will jump up from the tall weeds and grass among the aspens, so close as to startle you as you ride through them, or will leap into view from the shade of a deep washout far in the desert, where he finds in the feed and surroundings something to suit his taste. He is crafty also, for if he thinks he is hidden I have known him to lie in thick bush until almost kicked out after all sorts of expedients to drive him out have failed. He, has perhaps the keenest scent and the best hearing of all the deer tribe . . . but cannot see as well as the antelope, for I have stood within ten or twenty feet of several passing bands which failed to distinguish me from a stump or rock. Antelope will approach very closely occasionally, out of pure inquisitiveness, but never a deer. If anything moves a deer sees it instantly, but he cannot tell what a still object is.’’ Varieties of Mule Deer and Allied Species 1. Mule Deer. Odocotleus hemionus (Rafinesque). Description and range as above. 2. Californian Mule Deer. O. hemionus californicus (Caton). Similar, with smaller ears and with a dark median stripe on the tail. Range. Coast range of California south of San Francisco. 3. Desert Mule Deer. O. hemionus eremicus (Mearns). Paler than any of the other varieties. Range. Wesert areas of lower California and Sonora. 4. Cerros Island Deer. O. cerrosensis Merriam. Similar to the Californian variety, but much smaller. Range. Cerros Island off the Californian coast. Crook’s Deer. O. crooki Mearns. Somewhat like the mule deer, but reddish-fawn in colour, tail naked at base beneath. Range. New Mexico. Al . ar Columbian Black-tailed Deer Columbian Black-tailed Deer Odocoileus columbianus (Richardson) Length. 6 feet. Description. Smaller than the mule deer, with relatively shorter ears and finer hair; especially distinguished by the shorter metatarsal gland and tuft which occupy a considerable part of the upper half of the cannon bone segment. General colour brownish gray, darkest along the back, with a tinge of reddish brown on the head; chin, upper throat and posterior portion of underparts white, rest as above. Tail black above, basal third beneath white. Antlers similar to those of the mule deer. Summer coat redder than winter. Range. British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon, west of the Cascade Mountains. Closely related varieties to the north and south, in Alaska and Northern, California. Our Pacific coast region is favoured with more distinct kinds of deer than any other part of the Union. Besides a _ represen- tative of the widespread Virginia deer group, we find there also the larger heavier mule deer and the smaller darker species above described. The black-tailed deer, as seen above, has a very re- stricted distribution and was unknown to naturalists until the famous expedition of Lewis and Clarke across the Rocky Moun- tains and into our northwestern territory. These observant natu- ralists recognized in both this and the mule deer species which were unknown to them and have given in the account of their travels excellent descriptions of both. The blacktail is in many ways intermediate between the mule and the Virginia deer, but has the same peculiarity of gait and much the same style of antlers as the former. Lydekker writes of this species: “In its general mode of life the blacktail is in some respects unlike the mule deer, although it resembles the latter in its bounding gait when _ frightened. Such a fatiguing pace can, however, be maintained only for a comparatively short distance, and the deer consequently soon be- come blown when they start off in this manner. When starting without being frightened, they run in a more ordinary way, and are then able to hold out for a much longer time, as is also the case with the mule deer. Unlike the latter, the present species is a forest-loving animal, frequenting the dense woods of conifers bordering the Pacific Coast, whose deep shade affords ample con- 42 VIRGINIA DEER IN THE MAINE WOODS AT NIGHT By W. E. Carlir Carefully approaching in a canoe, this picture of the surprised doe was secured by flashlight. ss — is) The ; a ; a ales 7 ii > 1 pe : eA © 3 wt agus o_o = , ~ : a5 7 7 y ” g) Vas 7 7° = d @ - ) Mooss cealment. ... The fawns are usually born in May, their number being generally two, although triplets have been recorded. They are more fully spotted than those of the mule deer, the spots themselves being more sharply defined and arranged in more definite longitudinal lines. In these respects the fawns are more like those of the Virginian deer.” Varieties of Black-tailed Deer 1. Black-tailed Deer. Odocotleus columbianus (Richardson). Description and range as above. 2. Sitkhan Black-tatled Deer. O. columbianus sithensts Merriam. Similar, but ears shorter, and basal part of tail above fulvous like the back. Range. Southern Alaska. 3. Californian Black-tailed Deer. O. columbianus scaphiotus Merriam. Colours paler and ears longer. Range. Northern California. Moose Alces americanus Jardine Length. 9 feet. Height at shoulder, 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet 6 inches. Length of antler, 41 to 44 inches. Description. A crest of stiff erect hairs on the neck, much elon- gated and forming a hump on the shoulders, nose large, the upper lip protruding well over the lower, ears large, tail very short, legs long, a pendent mass of hair on the throat called the ‘‘ bell.’”’ Colour blackish-brown above, grizzled with gray on the rump, shoulders and sides of the neck, under parts black, inside of legs and their entire lower portions quite gray, feet black, ears gray. Antlers broadly palmate, solid portion nearly two feet at the widest point, several tines project forward and the outer edge of the flat portion is fringed by an irregular series of points. Nange. Eastern British America, Maine, Minnesota and Montana and formerly northern New York. Replaced in Alaska by the Alaskan moose (Alces gigas Miller), a still larger beast, and the largest known member of the deer tribe. The moose seems like some old pre-historic creature that has lingered on into the present age, lonely and out of place, as if, 43 Moose having outlived its age and generation, it must necessarily soon become extinct irom natural causes. His massive scoop-shaped antlers and monstrous muzzle, in fact, his whole great ungainly carcass, looks as if it might well belong to some of those forgotten creatures whose bones are found in the river-drift, or dug up from beneath clay strata, buried in some long past interglacial epoch. Yet the moose lives and breeds in our Maine woods, its flesh serves as an article of food among us and may be bought in the market. Furthermore, he seems perfectly well fitted to look out for his own safety. His speed and endurance are astonishing, and he carries his large bulk and spreading antlers easily and swiftly through thickets where a man might well hesitate to force his way. His long legs are very convenient when wading about after water lilies and equally so in reaching upward to peel the bark from the young trees or biting off the tender shoots. When browsing, however, he not unfrequently brings his heavy body also into play and rearing up rides the tree down by sheer force, thus bringing the upper branches within reach. Feeding off the ground is another matter, however, the neck being too short to compensate for the great length of leg so that the beast is forced to kneel with the front feet in order to reach the ground in a level spot. The moose is eminently an animal of the forest and is par- ticularly at home in the dense thickets surrounding the shallow lakes, bogs and watercourses of the north woods, where he may be found wading through the water in search of the yellow splatterdocks, the roots of which at certain seasons form one of his choicest articles of diet. Most of the peculiarities of the moose are undoubtedly due to his habits which are in many respects different from those of other members of the deer tribe. In running his movements are described as clumsy, never galloping or jumping, but executing a curious shuffling or ambling gait, tossing his head and shoulders as if about to break into a gallop, but only increasing his speed by lengthening his stride, spreading his hind feet in order to straddle the front ones without stepping on them, his hoofs clacking noisily as he goes. He holds his nose up and his antlers laid back on_ his shoulders to avoid the branches. When he comes to a fallen 44 4 } | ; i DEER, IN MOOSE CREEK, IDAHO. By W. E. Carlin WESTERN WHITE-TAIL, OR VIRGINIA DEER (Odocoileus virginianus macrourus) By W. E. Carliv 1N THE BITTER ROOT VALLEY, MONTANA. These photographs of wild deer were made in the spring, when the animals are more easy to approach camera bunter lay in wait near the trail and caught the animals unawares. td In each case the Moose tree, as high as a man’s shoulder, he does not jump it, but simply steps over without changing his gait. In winter the moose keep to the hilly woods in the cover of the evergreens and live by browsing on green wood and moss and the resinous foliage of the evergreens. When the snow gets so deep as to hinder their progress, they tramp irregular paths, forming a sort of labyrinth over several acres, making what is known as a ‘‘moose yard,” where they pass the hardest part of the winter, sometimes several families together. As food gets scarce and hard to reach, they extend their yards by breaking new paths through the snow, but are often reduced to short commons before the winter is over. At the approach of warm weather they move down to the swamps and lnke-side, where they browse on willow, striped maple, birch, etc.; in order to get at the upper branches of a sapling they will rear up against it and bend it down with their weight. In summer they live largely on lily roots and succulent water- plants, wading and running out into the lakes and feeding with their heads partly immersed in the water. During the rutting season, which occurs in the autumn, the old bulls become savage and fearless, roaming the forest on moonlight nights, whistling and calling fiercely and clashing their antlers against trees as a challenge. The cow moose answers with a lower call, which the hunters imitate through birch-bark trumpets, in order to call the bull within gunshot. When enticed in this manner, the bull is likely to come upon the hunter with a blind rush, and in the darkness of the wood the hunter, whose nerves are liable to fail him at a pinch, may find this sort of sport exciting, but not altogether safe. The fawns who are born in early summer stay with their mothers for two or three years before they wander off to seek mates for themselves. It is said that they do not get their full growth until they are fourteen or fifteen years old and, if they escape a violent death, live to a great age. Of one of the strongholds of the moose in the East, Frederic Irland writes: ‘‘The camp was on the Crooked Deadwater by the side of a beautiful stream at the head of a great river. Just across the narrow waterway one of the grandest mountains in New Brunswick rises sheer and dark, a great pyramid of eternal ver- dure, which in the winter is the feeding ground of hundreds of 48 Moose moose. It was into this inviting camp that we stumbled long after dark, scaring a little moose out of the very door-yard, not two hundred feet from the cabin door. The frost came down and cracked the trees that night till they popped with the cold and the sound was like a skirmish of rifles. The next morning when we awoke there was a thin glaze on the snow, and when we walked abroad it was like treading on innumerable panes of crackling window-glass. We heard three different moose get up and run when we were a quarter of a mile off. . . . We climbed the mountain for an hour. Then we came to the tracks of two moose, fresh that very morning. The footprints were not extra large, but the broken twigs on two trees showed where a pair of antlers had scraped on either side and | could scarcely touch the two trees at one time with my _ outstretched hands. Moose with big horns do not always have large hoofs. ‘*«They lie down about this time in the morning’ said my guide, . . . and after awhile, over the top of a fallen tree- trunk I saw the mane of a great, black animal. The old fellow has not seen us yet. He swings his great horns just a little. The steam rises from his broad nostrils. Lazily he winks his eye. I can see every hair on his back. Carefully I push the camera above the prostrate tree-trunk first brushing the snow away with my hand. Tick, goes the shutter and the great beast is getting up. The antlers swing, he rises, two feet at a time, like an ox, hesitates an instant, as a moose always does, shows the little symptoms of fright so familiar to those who know the habits of the moose, and then goes down the mountains like a runaway locomotive.’ In the far Northwest moose were even more abundant, though it is difficult to say how long they will withstand the sudden flood of immigration which the gold fever has recently produced in that direction. ‘‘The broad valley and mountain banks of the Klondike” writes Tappan Adney, ‘‘are an admirable feeding ground for the moose. The temperature in winter is exceedingly cold and crisp, but the snowfall is light, and by reason of the intense cold the snow does not settle or pack. There is so little wind, especially through the early part of the winter, that the snow accumulates on the trees in strange and often fantastic masses, giving the landscape, especially on the mountain tops, the appear- ance of having been chiselled out of pure white marble. On 46 SHUvIUIs4IA $N2720700P0) MONA TIVL-ALIHM DNNOA V uI]JeD “AM Ag i — a s - . aa? _ a r - ; > Oe a : i i. - » = - - _ 2 hy 7 * : : aes t _ - Der : i 7 : 2 - ra ; . 7 i rr * 7 C . iad : : oF ay ; i 7 - - - “' i? - - D a ; a oe 4 aq. i s 8 - on >t = a : a 7 =O j . . vi : a “— ™ =) aT a sat ) Wet 5 _ : 7 - an - ony "yi ei 1 Woodland Caribou account of its lightness, the snow is no impediment to the long- legged gaunt moose, which is not obliged to ‘yard,’ as in more Southern deep-snow regions, but wanders at will from valley to mountain top in search of the tender twigs of willow, white birch and cotton wood. The Indians surround the moose in its feeding grounds and as it runs one or more of them is tolerably sure of a quick shot.” The moose in this section has long been the main support of the Indians and in their household economy no part of the beast is wasted. To quote further, ‘‘The hides were brought indoors, the hair was shaved off, and all the sinew and meat adhering was removed by means of a sort of chisel madeoi,/4;moose’s!"shin’ Domes’) 5) \ 5), 33) 7 Dhe skin) was now washed in a pan of hot water. The tanning, with a soup of the liver and brains, is done the next summer. The various por- tions of the moose were divided among the village. One family got the head, another a slab of ribs, another the fore shoulders. The shin bones were roasted and cracked for their marrow; the ears, although nothing but cartilage, were roasted and chewed up; the rubber-like ‘muffle,’ or nose, and every particle of flesh, fat or gristle that could be scraped from head or hoofs were disposed of. Even the stomach was emptied of its contents, boiled and eaten.” In the Old World there occurs a near relative of the moose in the forests of the Scandinavian peninsula as well as parts of Russia and Prussia. The animal is known to the English by the name of elk, which term has unfortunately been applied in this country to the wapiti. Woodland Caribou Rangifer caribou (Gmelin) Length. 6 feet. Height at shoulder 4 feet. Length of antler 30 to 40 inches. ‘Description. Differs from all the preceding members of the deer family in the presence of antlers on the female as well as the male, the muzzle is also entirely covered with hair and the feet are more deeply cleft. Colour, dark dove-brown, lighter in the neck, posterior part of the abdomen, and inside of legs as well as a 47 Woodland Caribou band just above the hoofs white, muzzle and face dark except the front of the upper lips. Grayer in winter with head and neck nearly white. Antlers with one (rarely both) of the brow tines flattened and palmate standing out vertically in front of the face, above this is another branched tine more or less palmate and the summit of the antler is again palmately expanded. The exact pattern and extent of the palmation is exceedingly variable. Range. Wooded parts of British America, northern Maine and Montana. The caribou’s hair in summer is brown to match the dun coloured barrens and marshes. In the fall it grows longer and thicker, the new growth being very much lighter so that in mid- winter and early spring the general effect is smoky white—the colour of a snowstorm in the woods, and the moss-hung, snow- flecked spruce trees among which the caribou feed and seek pro- tection during the cold weather. Their rough antlers looking like dead, weather-beaten branches also help them in their everlasting game of hide and seek. It is evident to the most unscientific that the woodland caribou is only a branch of the great reindeer family, which has either wandered south into the woods of Canada and the northern United States, or else lingered behind when the wide extended ice sheet of the glacial period withdrew again to the Arctic regions thousands of years ago, at the time the little alpine plants, still found on Mt. Washington, got left behind by their kindred. In whichever case they certainly appear to have found the conditions favourable and have increased in size accordingly. But the woodland caribou still feels at times the old inherited desire for wide open stretches of treeless country, particularly in summer, when they wander out over the extensive barrens and flat bog lands to pasture on the coarse sedge-grass growing there. Although perfectly at home in the thickets where they winter, browsing on moss and lichens; their power for leaping over windfalls and bush is as yet an acquired art, not instinctive and hereditary as it is with the true deer of the wildwood. W.M.J. Long in his ‘‘ Wilder- ness Ways” says: ‘‘Caribou are naturally poor jumpers. Beside a deer who often goes out of his way to jump a fallen tree just for the fun of it, they have no show whatever; though they can travel much further in a day and much easier. Their gait is a swinging trot from which it is impossible to jump; and if you frighten 43 (SnuoMmay snajvoc0vO) SHOd AAACd AINW AO HONDA ¥ aqeeg WITT “O Ad an en f 7 ? P 4 “ = ) i 2 7 i > : » a . ’ a 7 « _ o{ « _ 7 Y =) at 3 a. ® ae me 1 an . to > - ive ay ef i ‘ 7 ns " at: Woodland Caribou them out of their trot into a gallop and keep them at it they never grow exhausted. ‘‘Countless generations on the northern’ wastes, where there is no need of jumping, have bred this habit, and modified their muscles accordingly. ‘* But now a race of caribou has moved further into the woods, where great trees lie fallen across the way, and where if there is anybody behind them, or they are in a hurry, jumping is a necessity. Still they do not like it and avoid jumping as much as possible. The little ones, left to themselves, would always crawl under a fallen tree, or trot round it. And this is another thing to overcome, and another lesson to be taught in the caribou Schoolies. ‘*One afternoon in late summer I was drifting down the Toledo River, casting for trout, when a movement in the bushes caught my attention. A great swampy tract of ground, covered with grass and low bush, spread out on either side of the stream. ‘‘From the canoe I made out two or three waving lines of bushes where some animals were making their way through the swamp toward a strip of big timber which formed a kind of island in the middle. Pushing my canoe into the grass | made for a point just astern of the nearest quivering line of bushes. A glance at a strip of soft ground showed me the trail of a mother caribou with her calf. 1 followed carefully, the wind being ahead in my favour. ‘* They were not hurrying and | took good pains not to alarm them. ‘When | reached the timbers and crept like a snake through the underbush, there were the caribou, five or six mother animals, and nearly twice as many little ones, well grown, which had evidently just come in from all directions. They were gathered in a natural opening, fairly clear of bushes, with a fallen tree or two, which served a good purpose later. The sunlight fell across it in great golden bars, making light and shadow to play in; all around was the great marsh, giving protection from enemies; dense underbush screened them from prying eyes—and this was their school-room. “The little ones were pushed out into the middle, away from the mothers to whom they clung instinctively, and were left to get acquainted with each other, which they did very shyly at first, like so many strange children. 49 Woodland Caribou ‘It was all new and curious; this meeting of their kind; fox till now they had lived in dense solitude, each one knowing no living creature save its own mother. . ‘*Some were timid and backed away as far as possible into the shadow, looking with wild, wide eyes from one to another of the little caribou, and bolting to their mother’s side at every unusual movement. Others were bold and took to butting at the first encounter. 2.1 ‘* As | watched them the mothers all came out from the shadows and began trotting round the opening, the little ones keeping close as possible, each one to its mother’s side. ‘‘Then the old ones went faster; the calves were left in a long line stringing out behind. ‘* Suddenly the leader veered into the edge of the timber and went over a fallen tree with a jump; the cows followed splendidly, rising on one side and falling gracefully on the other, like gray waves racing past the end of a jetty. ‘‘But the first little one dropped his head obstinately at the tree and stopped short. The next one did the same thing; only he ran his head into the first one’s legs and knocked them out from under him. The others whirled with a ba-a-a-a-ah, and scampered round the tree and up to their mothers, who had turned now and stood watching anxiously to see the effect of their lesson. ‘‘Then it began over again. It was true kindergarten teaching; for under guise of a frolic the calves were taught a needful lesson— not only to jump, but far more important than that, to follow their leader, and to go where he goes without question or hesitation. ‘‘For the leaders on the barrens are wise old bulls that make 410 mistakes. ‘‘Most of the little caribou took to the sport very well, and presently followed their mothers over the low hurdles. But a few were timid, and then came the most interesting bit of the whole strange school, when a little one would be led to a tree and butted from behind till he took the jump. ‘“There was no ‘consent of the governed’ in the governing. The mothers knew, and the calf didn’t, just what was good for him.” The caribou is such a restless wandering fellow that it is little use to attempt hunting him by following his trail; you may succeed in getting a shot at him in this manner, but the chances are that he will see you first, or at all events become 5° ; (snupriuamp sa71V¥) ASOOW ITINA ONNOA asoulsng *y °V Ad ‘ Woodland Caribou aware of your presence in some way, and after that you might as well be following the trail of a wood-nymph, as far as your chances of success are concerned. Still hunting is the most satisfactory method of getting caribou. Keeping the wind in your face you wander silently through the forest and along by the edge of the open barren and by the lake’s margin, keenly searching the skirts of the spruce thickets and birch clumps for a sight of your game. If you should chance upon a trail very recently made, it is sometimes possible, if the wind is in your favour, to follow it cautiously and get a shot; or perhaps after following it a little way the direction of the trail will tell you the caribou are in all probability heading for a certain open feeding ground or lake shore that you know of, in which case a cross cut will often enable you to intercept them. Caribou are full of inquisitiveness and not very keen sighted, and in winter, when the woods are white with snow, some caribou hunters make a point of wearing a white flannel hunting suit and a brilliant red cap; the caribou seeing this spot of bright colour moving among the trees are tempted by curiosity to approach within gunshot. Varieties of the Woodland Caribou There are seven kinds of caribou in North America which appear to be quite distinct and geographically separated from one another,and all of them certainly different from the reindeer of Europe. They fall into two groups; the larger woodland caribou and the smaller Barren Ground caribou. The most striking differences between the members of the former group are given below, and of the latter beyond. 1. Woodland Caribou. Rangifer caribou (Gmelin). Description and range as above. 2. Mountain Caribou. Rangifer montanus. Seton-Thompson. Uniformly darker than the preceding with the white band above the hoof very narrow. Size rather larger. Range. Rocky Mountains of Idaho north into Southern Alaska. 3. Stone's Caribou. Rangtifer stonet Allen. Dark like the last but with a heavy white fringe of hair on the front of the neck in strong contrast. Range. (Kenai Peninsula Alaska. 4. Newfoundland Caribou. Rangifer terre-nove Bangs. Uni- formly whiter than the woodland caribou, with a white ring around the eye. Antlers very massive and widespread with numerous points. Range. Newfoundland. 51 Barren Ground Caribou Barren Ground Caribou Rangifer arcticus (Richardson) Size. Smaller than the preceding. Antlers longer, 50 inches. Description. Smaller than the woodland caribou and allied species, colours light, almost entirely white in winter. Antlers slender with comparatively few points. Range. Barren Grounds of Arctic America. Recent explorations in the Northwest have discovered a much greater variety of caribou than were formerly supposed to exist, in fact, no less than seven different kinds are now known to inhabit North America. It is impossible at present to de- termine the exact relationship between these animals until their range has been more carefully ascertained. It is quite likely that all may prove to be perfectly distinct species or some of them may be mere geographic races, shading imperceptibly one into the other. However this may be, the Barren Ground caribou, the smallest of the group, seems to be the most widely sepa- rated both in appearance and habits from woodland caribou of which we have just been treating. ‘‘Its range,” writes Warbur- ton Pike, ‘‘appears to be from the islands in the Arctic Sea to the southern part of Hudson’s Bay, while the Mackenzie River is the limit of their western wandering. In the summer time they keep to the true Barren Grounds, but in the autumn, when their feeding-grounds are covered with snow, they seek the hanging moss in the woods. . From what | could gather from the Indians, and from my own personal experience, it was late in October, immediately after the rutting season, that the great bands of caribou, commonly known as La Foule, mass up on the edge of the woods, and start for food and shelter afforded by the stronger growth of pines farther southward. A month afterward the males and females separate, the latter beginning to work their way north again as early as the end of February; they reach the edge of the woods in April, and drop their young far out toward the sea-coast in June, by which time the snow is melting rapidly and the ground showing in patches. The males stay in the woods till May and never reach the coast, but meet the females on their way inland at the end of July; 52 409} BAY-AjUeaas JNOQe JO doULYSIP B WOI] SUIT OJLYGEI9} B YIIM ‘UOS¥aS AY 94} SULINP "oulep! At poydvssozoud SUPE ia (snupoi4amp 929717) ASOOW TING AO UlVd V ~ Dae Sr Barren Ground Caribou from this time they stay together tili the rutting season is over and it is time to seek the woods once more.” Of their curious migration he says, ‘‘They are extremely un- certain in their movements, seldom taking the same course in two consecutive years, ... this is in a great measure accounted for by the fact that great stretches of the country have been burnt, and so rendered incapable of growing the lichen so dearly loved by these animals.” In the fall of 1889 he personally en- countered one of the migrations. ‘‘ With the increasing depth of the snow there was a noticeable migration of life, from the Barren Grounds. Ptarmigan came literally in thousands, while the tracks of wolves, wolverines and Arctic foxes made a continuous network in the snow. Scattered bands of caribou were almost always in sight from the top of the ridge behind the camp and increased in numbers till the morning of October 20th, when we were awakened before daylight by the cry of ‘‘La foule,” ‘‘La foule,” and ever in the lodge we could hear the curious clatter made by a band of travelling caribou. La Foule had really come and during its passage of six days I was able to realize what an extraordinary number of these animals still roam in the Barren Grounds. From the ridge we had a splendid view of the migra- tion; all the south side of Mackay Lake was alive with moving beasts, while the ice seemed to be dotted all over with black islands, and still away on the north shore, with the aid of the glasses, we could see them coming like regiments on the march. In every direction we could hear the grunting noise that the caribou always make when travelling; the snow was broken into broad roads and | found it useless to try to estimate the num- ber that passed within a few miles of our encampment. This passage of the caribou is the most remarkable thing that | have ever seen in the course of many expeditions among the big game of America. The buffalo were for the most part killed out before my time, but I cannot believe that the herds on the prairie ever surpassed in size La Foule of the caribou.” Varieties of Barren Ground Caribou 1. Barren Ground Caribou. Rangifer arcticus (Richardson). Description and range as above. American Prong-Horn 2. Greenland Caribou. Rangifer graenlandicus (Gmelin). Some- what like the last, a white ring around the eye and very long slender antlers. Range. Greenland. 3. Grant's Caribou. Rangifer granti Allen. _ Represents the Barren Ground caribou in the extreme Northwest. Skull characters quite different. Range. Alaskan peninsula. PRONG-HORNS Family Antilocapride This family contains only the curious prong-horn of our Western plains, an animal intermediate in many ways between the deer and the cattle. American Prong-Horn Antilocapra americana (Ord) Also called Antelope, Prong-buck. Length. 4 feet, 6 inches. Height at shoulder, 2 feet, 10 inches. Description. Horns hollow, like those of the cattle, but regularly deciduous, like the antlers of the deer, and forked. The two small rudimentary hoofs, usually seen in ruminant animals behind and above the large pair, are entirely absent. Muzzle covered with hair except a narrow line down the middle, eyes very large and a short mane on the back of the neck. Golour above light yellowish-brown, throat, neck and under- parts white; forehead, nose and spot below the ear dark brown, sides of the head, spot behind the ear and triangular patch on the shoulder joining the throat white. Range. Saskatchewan to Mexico; Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Wash- ington. The prong-horn or prong-buck is to be found in diminished numbers from the Missouri River to the Pacific and southward into Mexico. They are roving creatures, their movements being largely determined by the weather and the comparative abun- dance or scarcity of water and pasturage. In winter they seek 54 YOUNG WOODLAND CARIBOU (Rangtfer caribou By A. R. Dugmora In Washington Zoological Park. American Prong-Horn sheltered valleys among the hms and, as spring comes on, the females separate from the rest of the herd and give birth to their kids, usually two in number. These they keep in hiding and watch jealously for a fortnight. At the end of a short time they are strong and reliant on their legs and capable of following their mothers wherever they go. The herd now wanders out over the open plains and low rolling foot-hills, where the wide free outlook makes it possible for them to detect danger at an immense distance. When alarmed, they crowd together and dash away like the wind and, being easily the swiftest runners on the continent, are in little danger of being overtaken. Their innate curiosity, however, often gets them into trouble. A handkerchief on the end of a stick, or anything, in fact, that excites their curious interest, will frequently draw them within gunshot, unless they manage to get the wind of their enemy, when, scenting danger, they are off and away. During the summer months the old bucks live apart from the females and their families; towards autumn, however, they become more sociable and friendly, and join their mates once more, the herds constantly increasing in size until November. In defending their kids the females use their sharp hoofs with savage effectiveness, striking a quick downward blow with their forefeet that might easily disable a wolf that came too close. It is said that they will cut a rattlesnake to pieces before he has a chance to strike. Like other distinctively Western animals, the antelope attracted much attention from Audubon on his famous expedition up the Missouri, and all its peculiarities of habit were carefully observed. In his account of the species he says: ‘‘Observe now a flock of these beautiful animals; they are not afraid of man—they pause in their rapid course to gaze on the hunter, and stand with heads erect, their ears as well as eyes directed toward him, and make a loud noise by stamping with their forefeet on the hard earth; but suddenly they become aware that he is no friend of theirs, and away they bound like a flock of frightened sheep—but far more swiftly, even the kids running with extraordinary speed by the side of their parents— and now they turn around a steep hill and disappear, then per: 55 4 American Prong-Horn haps come in view, and once more stand and gaze at the in- truder.” The wonderful watchfulness of the antelope is due naturally to its continual exposure in the open country in which it lives and the necessity of being ever prepared to get a clear start of the wolves or such other enemies as may harass it, against which flight is its only safeguard. Like many other animals that habitually associate in flocks, the antelope has in its two white rump patches conspicuous ‘‘recognition marks,” as they have been termed, by which, ac- cording to Wallace’s theory, individuals can at a glance recog- nize their own kind, even though at a considerable distance. The rump patches of the antelope, however, are different from those of other ruminants and are of much more importance to the animal. Ernest Seton-Thompson, writing of this matter in The Century Magazine, says: ‘‘Some years ago, while riding across the upland prairie of the Yellowstone, I noticed certain white specks in the far distance. They showed and disappeared seve- ral times and then began moving southward. Then, in another direction, I discovered other white specks which also seemed to flash and disappear. A glass showed them to be antelope, but it did not wholly explain the flashing or the moving which ul- timately united the two bands. I made note of the fact, but found no explanation until the opportunity came to study the antelope in the Washington Zoo.” He goes on to explain how the approach of a dog to the enclosure of the captive animals caused them to elevate the hair all over their rump _ patches. ‘‘The wild antelope habit is. to raise the head while grazing to keep a sharp lookout for danger, and these captives kept up the practice of the race. The first that did so saw''the dog. It uttered no sound, but gazed at the wolfish-looking intruder and all the long white hairs of the rump patch were raised with a jerk that made the patch flash in the sun like a tin pan. Every- one of the grazing antelopes saw the flash, repeated it instantly and raised his head to gaze in the direction in which the first was gazing. At the same time | noticed on the wind a_pecu- liar musky smell—a smell that certainly came from the antelope.”’ Subsequent investigation showed the presence of a musk gland in the centre of the rump patch and a mass of muscle connected with it and with the bases of the white hairs. This completed 56 WdIAXdO JO SUATLNV GNV SGVAH IVOIdAL noquey) pur[poom J9aq 3n asooy[ 190q PIUIBITA . Aepeuio py “L ‘mM Aq poauroy ydris0joyg *soyoul YES “Ayneaq jo pvaids ‘apelq yors uo sjurod Spivdal se og -q ay ul peoy Or ‘exsEly ‘UOTsaI IaAny Iaddoy 3Sauy 94} aq 03 sjiodxa Aq preg oY} Ul Pa[Ey esooyy jo pray Mountain Goat the explanation of the whole matter. ‘‘As soon as the antelope sees some strange or thrilling object this muscle acts and the rump patch is changed in a flash to a great double disk or twin chrysanthemum of white that shines afar like a patch of snow, but in the middle of each bloom a dark brown spot, the musk gland is exposed and a great quantity of the odor is set free and the message is read by all those who have noses to read. Of all animals man has the poorest nose, he has virtually lost the sense of smell, while among the next animals in the scale scent is their best faculty. Yet even man can distinguish the danger scent for many yards down the wind and there is no reason to doubt that antelope can detect it a mile away. Thus the observations on the captive animals living under normal con- ditions proved the key to those made on the plains and I know now that the changing flashes in the Yellowstone upland were made by the antelopes’ heliograph, while the two bands signalled each other; and the smaller band on getting the musky message ‘Friend’ laid aside all precaution and fearlessly joined their rela- tives.” THE CATPREE Family Bovide To this family belong all the domestic cattle and their allies the bisons and buffaloes, wild sheep and goats as well as the great host of antelopes found in Africa and Asia. Our American representatives are few in number, comprising only the mountain goat, mountain sheep, musk ox and buffalo. Mountain Goat Oreamnos montanus (Ord) Called also White Goat. Length. 4 feet. Height at shoulder, 3 feet. Description. Body covered with long hanging white hair and a short woolly under-fur, entirely yellowish white. Shoulders 57 Mountain Goat rather humped and head carried below their level, nose hairy, a short beard on the chin. Horns slender in both sexes and curving slightly backward, black, as are also the hoofs. Range. Higher Rocky and Cascade Mountains to Alaska. The higher, almost inaccessible slopes of the British Columbian Mountains are the stronghold of the mountain goats. There usually above the timber-line, amid the wildest scenery, and surrounded by glaciers and precipices they live practically unmolested except by the insatiable hunters. Living in such isolation they are in little need of speed or agility and are said to be rather slow and stupid beasts, easily secured if the surroundings admit of an approach. The mountain goat presents many points of interest. In the first place it is not a goat but rather an outlying member of the great antelope tribe—to which by the way our American ‘‘antelope’”’ does not belong. The nearest relatives of the goat are the serow of the Himalayas and the chamois of the Alps, though the long fleecy coat and goat-like beard give it a very different aspect. In colour too it is peculiar, being the only pure white ruminant animal known; this is an excellent protection, rendering it practically invisible during the snows of winter, though at other seasons it would seem to render it equally conspicuous. In describing his experience in pursuit of this animal Frederic Irland writes: ‘‘ The most charming innocent creatures that | met in the Cascade Mountains were the white goats. What do you think of a wild animal which, after he knows you are on _ his track, will stop and turn back, to peer around the corner and see what you are? These stately animals, with their long white aprons, coal black eyes, and sharp little horns, really seem to me too unsophisticated to shoot. At Ashcroft and Lillooet people had told me to get my hand in by shooting a goat and then perhaps | could improve by getting a sheep. As usual we were seeking what we might destroy, though as a fact we let many chances go. We had nearly burst our hearts by climbing for an hour or two up the mansard roof of North America and high above the deer pasture. The winter on the mountain tops had driven the game down and sent the bears to their winter dens. We had found sheep tracks and were following along to see where they led, when suddenly we saw four white animals on the edge of an abyss of the kind which Doré has portrayed in illustrating Dante. 58 eal PRONGHORN (Antilocapra americana) By W. E. Carlin With new horns just appearing. A telephoto picture from a distance of roo ci Tae 100 yards, taken on the outskirts of the Mountain Goat The goats were not very far from us in a straight line, but it was a long way around. They saw us and started on a rheumatic gallop, but only went a little way, and as they reached a turn, huddled up and looked back. We picked our way over toward their last place of abode, reaching the opposite side of the canyon by means wholly unsuited to nervous people. There was just snow enough to show their tracks, which led along scandalous Precipices. The fever of pursuit was on my guide, and he walked uprightly in places where I became a quadruped. This was trying to his patience, for he caught glimpses of the goats which | by reason of slower progress, was denied. In about half an hour we came toa great chimney of rock in the path, and clinging with fingers and moccasins, he went around the face of it. . . . When I came out above him I saw he had the goats in a sort of a natural trap, and they were all bunched up against a rock which I thought could not be passed. The biggest billy stood faced about, his long white beard and petticoats making him look like the high priest of some heathen temple. ‘Don’t shoot; he fall down’ yelled my guide. At the sound of the voice the goat made a desperate attempt at the face of the rock, scrambling up at an obtuse angle, then standing on his hind legs and throwing his fore feet over, from right to left. | thought he surely would fall back but he did not. The smaller goats followed and in a moment they were gone. .. . We made a flank movement and perhaps a quarter of a mile from the first round-up we saw those four fool goats again, the big one and a small one looking back around the corner to see if we were really coming. Then we did shoot and curiosity broke up that family.” Mr.Owen Wister, in one of the Boone and Crockett Club’s volumes, gives an interesting account of ‘“The White Goat and his Country.” Describing his first sight of the animal he says: ‘‘ We went cautiously along the narrow top of crumbling slate, where the pines were scarce and stunted, and had_ twisted themselves into corkscrews so they might grip the ground against the tearing force of storms. We came on a number of fresh goat-tracks in the snow or the soft shale. These are the reverse of the mountain sheep, the V which the hoofs make having its open end in the direction the animal is going. There seemed to be several, large and small; and the perverted animals invariably chose the sharpest slant they could find to walk on, often with a decent level just beside it that we were glad enough to have. If there was a precipice and a sound flat-top, they 59 Mountain Goat took the precipice, and crossed its face on juts that did not look as if your hat would hang on them. In this | think they are worse than the mountain sheep, if that is possible. Certainly they do not seem to come down into the high pastures and feed on the grass levels as the sheep will. As we continued I saw a singular looking stone lying on a little ledge some way down the mountain ahead. | decided it must be a stone, and was going to speak of it, when the stone moved and we crouched in the slanting gravel. . . . I climbed or crawled out of sight, keeping any stone or little bush between me and the goat, and so came cautiously to where I could peer over and see the goat lying turned away from me, with his head commanding the valley. He was ona tiny shelf of snow, beside him was one small pine, and below that the rock fell away steeply into the gorge. He looked white, and huge, and strange; and somehow I had a sense of personality about him more vivid than any since | watched my first silver-tip lift a rotten log, and, sitting on his hind legs, make a breakfast on beetles, picking them off the log with one paw.” “By eight the next morning,” he continues ‘“‘we had sighted another large solitary billy. But he had seen us down in the path from his ridge. He had come to the edge and was evidently watch- ing the horses. If not quick witted, the goat is certainly wary; and the next time we saw him he had taken himself away down the other side of the mountain, along a spine of rocks where approach was almost impossible. We watched his slow movements through the glass, and were reminded of a bear. He felt safe and was stepping deliberately along, often stopping, often walking up some small point and surveying the scenery. He moved in an easy rolling fashion, and turned his head importantly. Then he lay down in the sun, but saw us on our way to him, and bounced off. We came to the place where he had jumped down sheer twenty feet at least. His hoof- tracks were on the edge, and in the gravel below, the heavy scatter he made in landing; and then,—hasty tracks round a corner of rock and no more goat that day.” Mr. Wister says of the habits of the goat: ‘‘It has been stated that in the winter season, like mountain sheep, he descends and comes into the valleys. This does not seem to be the case. He does not depend upon grass, if indeed he eats grass at all. His food seems to be chiefly the short, almost lichen-like moss that grows on the faces and at the base of the rocks and between them in the crevices. None of the people in the Methon country spoke of seeing goats come out 60 YOUNG PRONGHORNS (Antilocapra americana) By A. R. Dugmore Mountain Sheep of the mountains during winter. I have not sufficient data to make the assertion, but I am inclined to believe that the goat keeps consis- tently to the hills, whatever the season may be, and in this differs from the mountain sheep as he differs in appearance, temperament, and in all characteristics, excepting the predilection for the inclined plane; and in this habit he is more vertical than the sheep.” Of hunting them he adds; ‘‘ There is no use in attempting to hunt them from below. Their eyes are watchful and keen, and the chances are that if you are working up from below and see a goat on the hill, he will have been looking at you for some time. Once he is alarmed, ten minutes will be enough for him to put a good many hours of climbing between himself and you. His favourite trick is to remain stock-still, watching you till you pass out of his sight behind something, and then, he makes off so energetically that when you see him next he will be on some totally new mountain. But his intelligence does not seem to grasp more than the danger from below. While he is stead- fastly on the alert against this, it apparently does not occur to him that anything can come down upon him. Consequently from above you may get very near before you are noticed.”’ From the Copper River Mountains, Alaska, Mr. D. G. Elliot has described a goat with very different skull and more divergent horns which seems to represent a different species or geographic race. He calls it Kennedy’s mountain goat, Oreamnos khennedyt. Mountain Sheep Ovts cervina. Desmarest Also called Bignorn. Length. 4 feet 6 inches. Height at shoulder, 3 feet 4 inches. Length of horn around curve, 50 inches. Circumference al base, 14 inches. Description. Body heavy, legs rather slender, hair everywhere closely appressed, no mane or beard. Horns in female short, in male very massive, curving backward and outward and in old rams making a complete spiral circle. Colour grayish brown, darkest on the back, under parts, inner side of legs, upper throat and patch on rump and around the base of the tail whitish; lighter and grayer in winter. Range. Higher mountains from British Columbia to Arizona. Nearly related varieties inhabit mountains to the North, South and West. (See below) 61 Mountain Sheep The bighorn might be called the chamois of our Western mountains, scaling the rugged cliffs and plunging over precipices with the same agility and confidence that mark the famous in- habitant of the Alps. The elastic spring of the animal when started and the easy poise of the splendid head as it settles back on the shoulders are exceedingly graceful, and the animal seems built and pro- portioned to the finest detail for the life that it leads. From the edges of the Alaskan glaciers to the dry, water- less crags of the Mexican Sierras we find one variety or other of the mountain sheep. During the breeding season an old ram presides over the flock of ewes and lambs, driving the younger rams off by them- selves, as is usual among polygamous animals. The flocks are exceedingly watchful and at the slightest alarm are off instantly, selecting a course that few animals or men care to follow. In early spring the sheep venture farther down into the mountain valleys in search of food, but soon return to their rocky fastnesses among the higher slopes. In the ‘‘Bad Lands,” the easternmost part of their range, Audubon made the acquaintance of these noble animals in 1843. He says: ‘The parts of the country usually chosen by the sheep for their pastures are the most extraordinary broken and pre- cipitous clay hills or stony eminences that exist in the wild regions belonging to the Rocky Mountain chain. Perhaps some idea of the country they inhabit—which is called by the French Canad- ians and hunters ‘mauvaise terres’—may be formed by imagin- ing some hundreds of loaves of sugar of different sizes, irregularly broken and truncated at top, placed somewhat apart and magnifying them into hills of considerable size. Over these hills and ravines the Rocky Mountain sheep bound up and down and you may estimate the difficulty of approaching them and con- ceive the great activity and sure-footedness of this species. They form paths around these irregular clay cones that are at times six to eight hundred feet high, and in some situations are even fifteen hundred feet or more above the adjacent prairies; and along these they run at full speed, while to the eye of the specta- tor below, these tracks do not appear to be more than a few inches wide although they are generally from a foot to eighteen inches in breadth. In many places columns or piles of clay or 62 “Gtunt ay} JO Tey ayy Buryeagja Aq ,, [Puss sty Surysey ,, st {Y4S11 oy} Uo [euIUR sayy UIE “TT AA Aq OJoydojoy (DUDILAIULD Did DIO]UUY) SNYOHONOUd Mountain Sheep hardened earth, are to be seen eight or ten feet above the ad- jacent surface, covered or coped with a slaty, flat rock, thus re- sembling gigantic toadstools, and upon these singular places the bighorns are frequently seen, gazing at the hunter who is wind- ing about far below, looking like so many statues on their elevated pedestals. One cannot imagine how these animals reach these curious places, especially on these inaccessible points, beyond the reach of their greatest enemies, the wolves, which prey upon them whenever they stray into the plains below.” Like all other big game the bighorn has been relentlessly pursued by hunters and in many parts of its original range it has been exterminated. In a number of localities, however, it holds its own with remarkable persistency, thanks no doubt to its agility, wariness and the inaccessibility of its favourite ranges. The sheep furnishes not only good sport in the chase but ex- cellent meat as well, and has the misfortune to possess a pair of horns that are prized perhaps more than those of any of our other big game. Hornaday truly says, ‘‘The head of the male bighorn is a trophy which appeals to all sorts and conditions of hunters, except indians. In the grandest head the noble red- man sees nothing more than a pair of horn spoons for his soup- kettle. Thousands of Ovis cervina have been hunted down and killed for their heads alone and thousands more have met their death before the rifles of sportsmen because they are grand game.” ‘‘Their ideal haunts,’ writes Hornaday, ‘‘are the slopes of high mountains, above timber line, near the edge of the snow fields that are perpetual.’’ These he states are often covered with luxu- riant grass as well as gray moss. In winter they seek lower altitudes and frequent the glades of the pine woods known as ‘‘ mountain parks.” ‘‘It is essential, however, that one side of the mountain sheep's home ranch should fall away abruptly in ragged lines of perpendicular rim-rock, with acres of slide-rock below, in order that the sheep may have the means of escape from their numerous enemies, particularly hunters.” **T once had an illustration of the mountain sheep’s tactics on a mountain top where the rock seemed poorly provided for means of escape. Two old rams were feeding at an elevation of about 9,000 feet. The snow was fourteen inches in depth, with a slight crust upon it. When first seen they were in a fifteen-acre open meadow, near the edge of the rim-rock, bravely 63 Mountain Sheep pawing through the snow to reach the longest of the dry, brown stems of bunchgrass that thrust their heads half way up through it. On finding themselves objects of a hunter's special notice the two rams quietly dropped over the sharp edge of the plateau, ploughed down a narrow cleft filled with slide-rock and disappeared. Pur- suit on their trail led down to the foot of a 200-foot wall of rim-rock, and close along its base for a long distance. At last the trail went farther down and dropped over the next lower wall of rim-rock in a manner that seemed deliberately calculated to make pursuit more laborious. As a change of tactics the hunt was kept up along the top of the rim-rock, but the quarry hugged the wall so closely that not even once was it sighted. It became evident that only by hours of patient work could those animals be encountered again, if at all.” Like the caribou the bighorns from different sections of the country present a very different appearance not only in colour, but in the size and shape of their horns, and instead of the one species which was known to our early explorers we have now seven species or varieties, all, however, animals of essentially similar habits. Varieties of Mountain Sheep 1. Mountain Sheep. Ovis cervina Desmarest. Description and range as above. 2. Audubon’s Sheep. Ovis cervina auduboni Merriam. Slightly different skull characters from the Rocky Mountain animal to which it is very closely related. Range. ‘‘Bad Lands.” Western South Dakota and Eastern Wyoming. 3. Nelson’s Sheep. Ovis nelsoni Merriam. Similar, but much paler. Range. Grapevine Mountains, between California and Nevada. 4. Mexican Sheep. Ovis mexicanus Merriam. Intermediate in colour between the mountain and Nelson’s sheep. Ears much longer than those of the former. Range. Northwestern Mexico and (?) southern New Mexico. 5. Stone’s Sheep. Ovis stonei Allen. Darker than the mountain sheep, with much more slender horns. Range. Headwaters of Pease River, Rocky Mountains, and Cassiar Mountains to Stikeen Mountains, Alaska. 6. Dall’s Sheep. Ovis dalli Nelson. White or yellowish-white at all seasons. Range. Alaskan Mountains, north of 60° to the Arctic coast. 64 MALE PRONGHORNS (Antioecapra americana) By A. R. Dugmore } os - ee Oe. / Musk Ox 7. Fannin’s Sheep. Ovis fanninit Hornaday. Similar, but shoul- ders, back and upper parts of legs gray. Range. Rocky Mountains, about 75 miles east of Dawson, Northwestern Territory. Musk Ox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman) Length. 6 feet. Height at shoulder, 3 feet 6 inches. Description. Heavily built with rather short legs and horns of the male very heavy, their bases meeting on top of the head and curving downward and up again at the tip. Entire head and body covered with a dense mane, matted and curly on the shoulders, but hanging straight on the rest of the body nearly to the ground. Colour very dark brown or blackish on the head and sides; a saddle-shaped patch on the back as well as short hair between the horns, muzzle and limbs below the knees and hocks yellowish white. Range. Arctic barrens of North America, east of the Mackenzie River. In Greenland occurs the closely allied Peary’s musk ox (O. wardi Lyddeker). The herds of musk oxen, now confined to the Arctic regions of North America, would seem to be the last lingering represen- tatives of a diminishing race. Related species formerly inhabited most of Siberia and parts of northern Europe, as well as Ger- many, England and France; their fossil remains having been found in all those countries. Musk oxen are curious long-haired shaggy beasts, in appear- ance half way between bison and sheep, and combining both in structure and habits the characters of each. The old males are rank of musk, especially in the rutting season, when their flesh is practically uneatable. The females, as a general thing, are al- most free from the musky odour to which the species owes its name. It has been observed by the musk ox hunters that when the animals are fat the odour of musk is much less noticeable. The long woolly coat of the musk ox is highly valued by the Esqui- maux who use it for various purposes. Musk oxen associate in herds numbering from about twenty or thirty to as many as eighty or a hundred head. The herds ap- pear to be largest in winter, the big bulls during the summer 65 American Buffalo being for the most part solitary, and the herds consisting of cows and calves which go about in small bands of from ten to twenty. The movements of the herds are described by Colonel Feilden as very sheep-like, the old bulls, when present, taking the lead, and the whole assemblage crowding together when alarmed, much after the manner of a flock of sheep. The single calf is produced in May or June and the cows are reported by the natives to breed only once in two years, so that the rate of increase is slow. In summer, according to Mr. Pike, their food consists almost exclusively of the leaves of the small wil- lows scattered here and there over the Barren Grounds, but grass, moss and lichens are also largely consumed, and in winter these two last, with perhaps bark, must form their sole nutriment. In spite of their comparatively short and massive limbs, musk oxen can run with considerable speed; and when thoroughly alarmed they are stated to take to hilly ground, where they display marveilous agility in climbing precipitous cliffs. In spite of stories to the opposite effect, Mr. Pike is of opinion that even old bulls are by no means dangerous animals.” * American Buffalo Bison bison (Linnzus) Length. 11 feet (adult bull). Height at shoulder, 5 feet, 8 inches. Description. Hind quarters light and short haired, fore quarters very heavy, with a high hump on the shoulders, and densely haired; head held well down below the level of the shoulders; horns curved outward, upward; tail with a terminal tassel. Colour, body and hind quarters pale gray brown, lower parts dark brown, shoulders, hump and upper neck covered with a dense mass of yellowish hair; head, lower part of neck and fore legs to the knees with dense shaggy hair, dark brown above and black lower down. Range. Originally Great Slave Lake to northern Mexico, New Mexico and Nevada; eastward south of the Great Lakes to central Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia and Mississippi. In 1870. Great Slave Lake to Wyoming and central Texas, eastward to central South Dakota, Kansas and Indian Territory. In 1880. About 550 in the extreme Northwest; 250 in Montana, Dakota and Wyoming, and 50 in Colorado and Indian Territory.t * Lydekker’s “ Wild Oxen, Sheep and Goats.” + From Hornasay. 66 SHUDJUOMU SOUMDIA @2ry “T sapzeyo Aq ‘zo061 ‘yy S1hdoz ( } O) WA OFS) NIVINOOW pees cee zs 3 3 ' re ea cial SAOMAM0\54a sy) 4m) onan geese ang ae OM 9250s oR nyse: i ceseastiamemabineanieanebitieniisinaaiteaiiniadulanuaiiaiidataaiiiiccna do tulotuaini: lol niu ether irre TR TTT coincide tee eC AT by q b a = : re i 5 a ' ~ ? = ia = ’ fe 2 7 2 | " b j = ¥ ale a by n* : - : 7 al ine © ; 1 ie fei +, : : : tee S r . 1 ' ‘ -— x ye i, Tut 4 ts t 7 1 <i D6 ’ a ; ire 7 4 ” E 4 “4 | ; a ) | . - yp) cad > i i 3 a ,2 Sy a we - % . - road 4 o. - = . ay, se * : i =~ x Ui 7 i ae 4 x = ; z : i i j 4 ’ - ' a y4 " 4 M 2 "| ; > 7 * - ] “3 iv ' , - . y * + q 7 7 ¢ LM <<. ‘ i q a - L : i s wT =. =, +. a“ a 5 - ? 4 y i ' 4 1 5 “Ss 7 =| a ‘s 5 ed eed ean] se = Ve : a He American Buffale In 1890. Apparently restricted to Yellowstone Park and other preserves. To the northwest of its range occurred a related variety known as the woodland buffalo (B. bison athabaske Rhoads). The bison can scarcely be reckoned as a creature of our day, already it has taken its place with the aurochs of Europe as a thing of the past. Both species have probably reached the limit of their decline in numbers, and the remaining herds, if properly protected and cared for, may increase considerably in the years to come. But until our present civilization has worn itself out and this part of the earth’s surface returns to a state of nature, and the cities have grown up through weeds and bushes to forests and woodland once more, the North American bison must continue only in memory and traditions. For uncounted ages the bison held all the most fertile grazing land in this country as their own. When the Europeans began to form settlements in North America they occasionally found bisons in small bands near the Atlantic Coast. They were decidedly rare however, everywhere east of the Appalachian Mountains. From Kentucky, all across the continent to Nevada, and from the Great Slave Lake to Mexico and Georgia, they wandered in mighty herds, migrating from one section to another as snowstorms and drought cut down their pasturages. The first Western pioneers witnessed such sights as probably no other white men have ever seen or will ever see again. Wide rolling plains blackened as far as even their hawk-like eyes could see, with huge hump-backed shaggy beasts, the old bulls bellowing and fighting and pawing up the earth which trembled everywhere as at the approach of an earthquake. Coyotes and timber wolves skulked here and there through the herds watching for an opportunity to pull down an unprotected calf, and dodging the charge of the enraged parent as best they could. Contrast with this the few hundred more or less degenerate representatives of this noble animal which now survive within the confines of preserves and parks or in the paddocks of zoological gardens, and all will agree that its extermination was one of the most shameful examples of man’s greed and a nation’s lethargy that is furnished in the history of our country. The number of the buffalo that ranged over our Western States, even in comparatively recent years is almost inconceivable. Some 67 American Buffalo idea, however, may be obtained from the statement of Col. R. 1. Dodge, who in 1871 passed through one of the immense herds while travelling in Arkansas. For twenty-five miles he passed through a continuous herd of buffalo. ‘‘ The whole country appeared one great mass of buffalo, moving slowly to the northward; and it was only when actually among them that it could be ascertained that the apparently solid mass was an agglomeration of innumerable small herds of from fifty to two hundred animals, separated from the surrounding herds by greater or less space, but still separated. The herds in the valley sullenly got out of my way, and turning, stared stupidly at me, sometimes at only a few yards’ distance. When | had reached a point where the hills were no longer more than a mile from the road, the buffalo on the hills seeing an unusual object in their rear, turned, stared an instant, then started at full speed directly toward me, stampeding and bringing with them the numberless herds through which they passed, and pouring down on me all the herds, no longer separated, but one immense compact mass of plunging animals, mad with fright, and as irresistible as an avalanche. Reining in my horse I waited until the front of the mass was within fifty yards, when a few well-directed shots split the herd, and sent it pouring off in two streams to the right and left. When all had passed they stopped, apparently perfectly satisfied, many within less than one hundred yards. . . . From the top of Pawnee Rock | could see from six to ten miles in almost every direction. This whole vast space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like a compact mass.” * From careful information furnished him Mr. Hornaday estimated this herd to comprise at lest four million buffalo. He adds: ‘‘Twenty years hence, when not even a bone or buffalo-chip remains above ground throughout the West to mark the presence of the buffalo, it may be difficult for people to believe that the animals ever existed in such numbers as to constitute not only a serious annoyance, but very often a dangerous menace to waggon travel across the plains, and also to stop railway trains and even throw them off the track.” f Buffalo were indiscriminately polygamous, very much as are domestic cattle, and at the breeding season collected in much more compact herds. The combined bellowing of the bulls at such times * ‘Plains of the Great West.” +The Extermination of the American Bison.’’ Report U.S. Nat. Mus. 1886-7, an exhaustive treatise from which the substance of this account is taken. 68 iy ims) hemi gt byt > a@, 4 er! me BLD be giv we a mene : " ‘ “in PO net YOUNG COW MUSK OX, about 16 months old (Ovibos moschatus) By A. R. Dugmore This is the second or third ever seen in captivity in a temperate climat- American Buffalo made a roar that could be heard for several miles. In winter time the herds migrated regularly to the Southern portion of their range. After reaching their winter pastures in the South they separated more or less and returned North in the spring in scattered herds, making their migration much less conspicuous. Their rate of travel was much faster than would naturally be inferred from their lumbering appearance, and they seldom swerved from their well-trodden ‘‘ buffalo paths” for any obstacles. ~ Rivers a mile wide, when free from ice, were plunged into and crossed without hesitation; in winter, however, the combined weight of the herd sometimes broke the ice beneath them and large numbers were drowned at such times to feed the wolves and other prowlers along the banks when the river broke up in spring freshets. The mating season was in the fall when the bisons occupied their Southern feeding grounds, the pairs remained in company until the spring when the cows went off by themselves to the most sheltered spots they could find and gave birth to their calves. The latter grew rapidly and were soon able to follow the herd, though still jealously guarded and defended from all dangers by their mothers. The old bulls in the meanwhile had associated in droves by themselves. In order to escape the attacks of the flies and other insects they sought out muddy sloughs and shallow ponds where they could roll and wallow to their hearts’ content and emerge with their coats filled and plastered over with clay which soon baked in the sun and formed a hideous but most effective armour which would last for days. The mud-holes which the bisons made for themselves in this manner have always been known as ‘‘buffalo wallows’” and are still to be found in regions where the great beasts that made them have been long extinct. While during the last few years of their existence buffaloes became wary and realized to some extent the danger of close contact with man, they were normally stupid to a degree. As Hornaday says: ‘¢ The buffalo was an animal of a rather low order of intelligence, and his dullness of intellect was one of the important factors in his phenomenally swift extermination. He was provokingly slow in comprehending the existence and nature of the dangers that threatened his life, and like the stupid brute that he was, would very often stand quietly and see two or three score or even a hundred of 69 American Buffalo his relatives and companions shot down before his eyes with no feeling than one of stupid wonder and curiosity. His stolid indiffer- ence to everything he did not understand cost him his existence.” In appearance the bull buffalo was easily the finest of our quad- rupeds. ‘‘The magnificent dark-brown frontlet and beard of the buffalo, the shaggy coat of hair upon the neck, hump and shoulders, terminating at the knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of the dense coat of finer fur on the body and hind quarters, give to our species a grandeur and nobility of presence, which are beyond all comparison among ruminants.” * * Hornaday op. cet. mostarq *f prempy Ag (uostq uostq) NOSTGA TTNG RODENTS OR GNAWING ANIMALS (Ghres) AniMALS of this group may be recognized at once by the peculiar arrangement of their teeth. In the front of the mouth are two large conspicuous teeth (incisors) in each jaw, which meet vertically like two pairs of chisels, and form a very power- ful apparatus for gnawing or cutting. The remaining teeth are broad flat-topped grinders (molars) placed in the back of the mouth while between the two, where the tearing teeth (canines) of the carnivorous animals are situated, the jaws are quite bare. The large gnawing teeth are further peculiar in being curved and Longitudinal section through Beaver skull. I Incisor tooth showing long curved base. M The four molars. (After Lydekker.) deeply rooted in the jaws, while they also grow continuously from the base as they wear away at the tip, so that they never become ‘‘ worn out.” Rodents range in size from the beaver to the mouse and in habits they exhibit the greatest diversity; some are burrowers, as the gophers and marmots, others are terrestrial as the rabbits, still others like the muskrat are aquatic, while the flying squirrel is even able to launch himself through the air. 7% Rodents or Gnawing Animals Such diversity of habits naturally produces great differences in structure, but no matter what individual peculiarities a rodent may possess, the characteristic “gnawing teeth’? remain the same in all, and serve at once as the “ear-mark”’ of the group. Our rodents are grouped in the following families. I. Rabbits and hares (Family Leporida). Hind legs very much longer than the front pair, so that the animals progress by leaps. Ears long, tail very short and up-turned, usually white on the under or exposed side. Peculiar in having a small pair of rudimentary front teeth at the base of the upper pair of large ones. Leg of Beaver Leg of Rat Showing the Tibia (T) and Fibula (F) Showing Tibia and Fibula united. separate for their entire length. (After Lydekker) (After Lydekker) It: Pikas (Family Ochotonida). Legs nearly equal, no_ tail, otherwise like the rabbits although the general form is more like a large rat. (Exclusively Western.) Ill. Porcupines (Family FErethizontide). Skin with numerous sharp spines interspersed among the hairs. IV. Gophers (Family Geomyide). Rat-like animals, living in subterranean burrows, eyes very small, fore legs modified for digging like those of a mole. No projecting ear, curious pouches on each side of the face, opening outside near the mouth. : 92 Rabbits and Hares V. Pocket mice (Family Heteromyide). Slender mouse-like animals, many with hind legs much elongated, but with pouches on the sides of the face as in the gophers. (Exclusively Western.) VI. Jumping mice (Family Zapodid@). Mouse-like animals, with hind legs much elongated, progressing by long leaps; tail very long exceeding the head and body. VII. Rats and mice (Family Murid@). Hind legs little if any longer than the front pair, the latter never modified like those of moles, tail never longer than the head and body. To this family belong all the mouse and rat-like animals not included in IV, V and VI. “YI. Sewellels (Family Aplodontiida). Thick-set animals with very short tail and short ears, and a peculiar fiat skull somewhat like that of the beaver. (Exclusively Western.) IX. Beavers (Family Castoride). Tail curiously modified into a broad, flat, naked appendage. X. Squirrels and marmots (Family Sciurid@). Here belong all the squirrel-like animals including the spermophiles and chipmunks. They differ from the mice and_ their allies in their bushy tails and many peculiarities in their anatomical structure, an important one being that the two lower leg bones are separate and not fused together as in the mice, thus allowing them to use their limbs more freely in climbing, a habit which is characteristic of a majority of the species. (See cuts page 72.) RABBITS AND HARES (Family Leporide) Rabbits are perhaps the most widely known of any of our wild animals. As our commonest ‘‘ game” they are familiar to every gunner and equally so to those who are acquainted with them only in the markets. Their distribution, too, is almost universal and in America, from the polar regions to the tropics, they exist in one form or another. Rabbits are also frequently known as hares, and the careless usage of the two names has given rise to much confusion in the popular mind as to just what constitutes the difference between them. As a matter of fact the European rabbit, the parent stock of all the varicus domestic breeds, is the only one properly en- 73 Rabbits and Hares titled to this name. It differs slightly in its proportions from the other species and is habitually a burrowing animal. The rest of the tribe, as a rule, make nests on the surface of the ground and are, properly speaking, hares. It is useless, however, to try to fix the application of names so firmly established and we must therefore take them as we find them. The big hares of our northern States are either varying hares or ‘‘snow-shoe rabbits,” our little “hares are, *¢mabbitsy: jor) “cottontails’”’ and: the ’ large hares of the plains are ‘‘ jackass rabbits.” While rabbits fail to show much variation in structure among themselves, differing for the most part in size and colour, they are, however, sharply separated from all the rest of the gnaw- ing tribe, and can be recognized at a glance. The popular eye notes at once the long hind legs and consequent jumping gait, the large ears, and the stumpy upturned tail. Look more closely and we shall find other peculiarities. The soles of the feet are not bare as in most rodents, but are covered with hair, which accounts for the lack of sharp definition in their footprints. Open the mouth and behind the two big front teeth of the upper jaw —the sign of the rodent as it were—we shall find another pair of little teeth which do not reach far enough down to aid in the gnawing. These are obviously of no use to the rabbit of to-day, but are none the less interesting since they show us that the ancestral rabbits of the past had four large front teeth instead of two, and the species now living form in this respect a sort of connecting link between other mammals and the rest of the rodents in which all trace of these teeth has been lost. Such characters, apparently most trivial, often throw much light upon the history and relationship of animals. Looking further into the anatomical structure of the rabbits, we find another interesting peculiarity in the arrangement of the bones of the fore legs, which are placed so that they cannot be turned inward and used as hands when the animal is feeding. This habit is common to almost all other gnawing animals and is most familiar in the case of the squirrels which hold their food tightly in their fore paws as they sit upright upon their haunches. Rabbits will often raise the fore part of the body clear of the ground when reaching upward, but the fore feet hang useless during such operation. In fact, beyond their use in running the fore legs seem only to be brought into play in a 34 By Edward J. Davison A HERD OF AMERICAN BISON (Bison bison) Photographed in Texas The Cottonteal curious stamping which rabbits indulge in when angry or excited. The most conspicuous species of rabbits in the East are described beyond. In the West are many species and varieties more or less closely allied to these, and one very distinct form, the Jack rabbit. The Cottontail Lepus floridanus mallurus (Thomas) Also known as Rabbit, Gray Rabbit. Length. 17 inches. Description. Above, a fine mixture of brown, cinnamon and russet, grayer on the rump, dusky edgings to the ears and an indistinct dusky spot between them; below, white with a brown band across the breast; lower surface of the tail pure white. Range. Lowlands of the southern and middle States from northern Florida to the Hudson Valley in the East, and to West Virginia and Tennessee, west of the Alleghanies. Other closely related varieties replace this form to the north and south, and many allied species occur in the West. For the last week I have been watching a rabbit that was caught in a box trap. It quickly became tame enough to allow itself to be stroked and patted without exhibiting much alarm, and when it escaped from its cage, which it did several times, offered but little resistance on being caught and replaced in bondage, at last even allowing itself to be taken up without a struggle. It ate readily whatever was offered it—apples, raw cabbage, and even the dry hay of which its bed was composed, besides gnawing all the bark from the twigs of apple tree which I placed in its cage, but never while I was watching and, | think, only at night, apparently hardly changing its position while the day- light lasted. Yesterday morning I found that it had not only escaped from its cage, a frequent enough occurrence, but that it had also managed to make its way to the outside world, and the snow on the lawn has since been thickly marked with its tracks lead- ing off across the orchard finally, and I trust that by this time 78 The Cottontail the little cotton-tailed chap is once more at home in the woods. Like the white rabbit the cottontail has well-beaten paths, which it follows winter and summer alike, but these are usually not so extended and regular as those of its larger cousin. In winter the goshawk has a habit of following these paths on foot in a most unhawk-like manner, especially where they are arched over by bushes that might prevent the hawks from pouncing down from above, and I believe that it is done with the intention of driving the rabbits out into the open woods where, perchance, the hawk’s mate is waiting to seize them, for goshawks usually hunt in pairs throughout the winter. Even the common crow, unless I am very much mistaken, not in- frequently manages to kill rabbits when the new snow is suf- ficiently deep and light to prevent them from making full use of their power of running. The rabbit's custom of resorting to burrows perhaps as fre- quently proves a menace to its safety as otherwise, particularly where, as is often the case, there is only one place of exit, for the mink, the skunk and the weasel can all easily enter any open- ing that will admit a rabbit and undoubtedly often get their dinner in that manner. Last winter I saw what looked like a rabbit crouching among the stems of a cluster of wild rose bushes, but on approaching more closely I discovered that the animal had been dead for several days, having evidently been killed by a weasel, and in the struggle became so wedged between the briars that its captor was unable to move it and must needs satisfy itself with suck- ing its blood and leaving it in that position. Later some white-footed mice and a blue jay had also been at work nibbling and pecking here and there, but by the time they had discovered it it had evidently become frozen so hard as to prevent their making much impression on it, so that at a dis- tance of a few yards it looked as if still alive. The gray rabbit prefers above all things briar-grown berry patches with a sprinkling of young pines and birches and nu- merous rotting stumps of a former generation of trees, but readily establishes itself in any kind of woods, high or low, while any isolated clump of bushes a few rods in extent, whether it be by the road-side or on the edge of a meadow is likely to harbour a family of them. qo NEST OF YOUNG COTTONTAILS This nest was ina hay-field. The young when found were covered with soft fur from the mother, so that they were hardly visibh ‘his fur was removed in order that the little blind animals might be seen. YOUNG COTTONTAIL AMONG THE CABBAGES (Lepus floridanus mailurus) By A. R. Dugmore The Cottontail Their food seems to be of much the same general character as that of the white rabbit though perhaps a little more varied, including fruit and all kinds of garden vegetables when convenient, though the damage done in this way is hardly worth consider- ing, in which respect it sets an example which the Old World rabbit might profit by. Like the other members of its race it often endeavours to escape notice by crouching motionless wherever it may happen to be, often allowing itself to be all but taken before it will move, and at such times no amount of being stared at will frighten it or put it out of countenance. There it will sit per- fectly motioniess except for the trembling of its whiskers and the motion of its breathing until you seem to be just on the point of grasping it, when it quietly slips from beneath your hands and races away. [ have seen one sitting in plain sight on the snow among the scattered sumachs not ten yards from a path along which loads of hay were being hauled from the salt marsh to the upland. Five or six teams must have passed it, some of them followed by dogs, and still it sat there undisturbed in the sunlight, ap- parently absorbed in its own thoughts. ‘The young ones, four or five inches long, are often met with in summer all alone beneath the ferns and brambles and very serious and reserved little chaps they are, too, with their great black eyes and absurd looking triangular mouths forever in motion, as if repeating over and over to themselves some lesson which they fear they may forget. Varieties of the Cottontail 1. Common or Southern Cottontail. Lepus floridanus mallurus (Thomas). Range and description as above. 2. Florida Cottontail. Lepus floridanus Allen. Darker all over, with no conspicuous black edgings to the ears nor black spot between them. Range. Southern Florida north to Micco. 3. Northern Cottontail. Lepus floridanus transitionalis (Bangs). More richly coloured than the southern cottontail, with emany long black hairs scattered over the back, black bor- ders to ears and spot between them very distinct. Range. Alleghany Mountains and northward east of the Hudson to southern Vermont and New Hampshire. To 77 Varying Hare the southward it merges gradually into the southern cotton- tail and westward into the following. 4. Prairie Cottontail. Lepus floridanus mearnst (Allen). Much lighter than any of the preceding, especially on the rump, ears light, without black edgings, and no spot between them. Size rather larger. Range. Upper Mississippi Valley south to Indiana and east to Central New York and Ontario. Varying Hare Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan) Called also Snow-shoe Rabbit, White Hare. Length. 19 inches Description. Summer. Upper parts russet to dull ferruginous, lower parts white. Wanter. Entirely white, though in southern part of its range some individuals remain partially brown through- out the winter. Range. Wooded regions of north-eastern North America south- ward along the Alleghanies to West Virginia, becoming scarce south of Maine. Our northern hare or white rabbit is a perfectly typical hare with the absurdly long hind legs characteristic of the tribe, dwelling by preference in old growth evergreen forests on gently sloping hillsides with here and there dense thickets of young spruce and pine springing up between the trunks of the older trees. Of all our wild animals: they are beyond question the most helpless and incapable. It is evidently impossible for them to use their paws for grasping as most of the smaller quadrupeds habitually do, and I have never seen any evidence of their carry- ing things with their mouths. Winter and summer and in all kinds of weather they have no better shelter than the drooping boughs of an_ evergreen, beneath which each crouches alone for protection against the storm and concealment from its enemies, never more than half asleep apparently and always on the alert to dash away the instant it catches the scent of fox or ermine to the windward, or the crackle of a footstep in the distance. Whenever they feel hungry they 78 Varying Haro venture forth and hop away to the nearest regular path or road- way used in common by all the hares in the vicinity. These paths are usually pretty straight and follow the same course the year round, often extending in an interrupted sort of way for a quarter of a mile or more with numerous side paths or cross roads of less extent, leading off in the direction of their feeding grounds. After following them for a little distance the hares usually strike off at random into the undergrowth, nibbling and -browsing here and there and nosing about for vagrant leaves of grass and clover such as spring up at intervals even in the darkest forests. Throughout the warmer months they have a large and varied assortment of herbs to choose from, and it seems not wholly improbable that they should also feed occasionally on berries and mushrooms. The young hares from‘the very first are provided with no more adequate shelter than that furnished by the leaves above them, and evidently must be left quite unprotected as often as their mother is obliged to find food for herself, as the old males are said not only to exhibit no feeling of responsibility in the matter of bringing up their offsprings, but even to kill them wantonly whenever the opportunity offers. As soon as they are able to take care of themselves, or even before, judging from outward appearances, the young ones are turned adrift to support themselves as best they may. The matter of finding food at that season is easy enough, but to avoid the numerous enemies that beset them must be much more difficult and I doubt if one out of a dozen ever attains its growth. As winter approaches and the frosts cut off their supply of food, they find themselves compelled to depend more and more upon the bark of young trees and bushes, birch and soft maple and wild apple trees. When the buds of the gray birch begin to swell, as they do late in the winter, the hares seem to prefer them to all other food and often wander considerable distances in search of trees with low growing branches, or clusters of young trees of last season’s growth whose tops are still within their reach; and a hare standing erect on its hind feet, as is their habit at such times, is able to reach much higher than might at first be supposed. The tall stalks of the blackberry and young trees a half inch or less in diameter they cut off close to the ground or the sur 719 Varying Hare face of the snow in order to get at the twigs and buds that grow beyond their reach. But it never seems to occur to them to carry any of it away to the cover of the evergreens where they sleep, and in consequence they are obliged to be abroad in all kinds of weather or go hungry until the storm is over. They usually pass the day crouching motionless, half asleep in the shadow, though not averse to sunning themselves at mid- day, especially during the latter part of the winter. Toward sunset they start out in search of food and are back in their forms again soon after sunrise, but whether they spend the entire night in feeding or only the hours of twilight is not easy to determine; I am inclined to think that they are abroad more or less at all hours of the night, especially when there -is moonlight or in the winter when it seldom gets very dark, and as they appear to depend at all times much more upon their other senses than upon their eyesight they would hardly be in- commoded by the most intense darkness, and it is hard to imagine anything much blacker than the darkness beneath the hemlocks on a summer evening, even while it is still twilight in the open fields. In spite of its size and the great strength of its hind legs which it uses so vigorously as a final defence, kicking and strik- ing savagely when seized, the Northern hare seems to be preyed upon by all but the very smallest flesh-eating inhabitants of the woods; in the North the sable is said to be one of its worst enemies, and it is not at all unlikely that the mink in some of his upland hunts manages now and again to seize one either by stratagem or speed; for in spite of their short legs most of the weasel tribe, of which the mink is a member, are able to beat the hares at their own game, and although the latter have a decided advantage at the start and quickly outdistance their ‘pursuers, the tireless muscles of the long-bodied hunters are pretty sure to enable them to have their own way in the end. Even the ermine and little weasel have been known to kill full-grown hares, and though these cases are probably not very frequent, they must find the young and half-grown ones the easiest kind of victims. Foxes are perhaps their most dangerous and persistent enemies, and from what I have seen I am inclined to think that our Ameri- can fcxes work in concert when hunting them just as the English 80 Varying Hare foxes have been seen to do, one of them lying in ambush beside the path followed by the hares in order to seize any that may pass that way in their endeavours to escape from the other foxes which are driving them from their cover. The henhawks and goshawks, the great gray owl and the horned and snow owls as well as the eagles either pounce upon them unawares from the evergreens, or pursue them at full speed through the under- brush, while in fall and winter men hunt them with dogs and catch them with various kinds of traps and snares. Although in the summer and early fall the dense undergrowth of the forest assists the hares in their constant endeavours at con. cealment, in the cold weather the leaves, with very few excep- tions, either fall or, shrivelled to a fraction of their former dimensions hang listless upon their stalks, allowing the eye to penetrate where before everything was hidden, and, as if this were not enough, the snow comes to flatten the ferns and grasses and lay on a background of white against which all objects are conspicuous. The Northern hare, however, like the ermine, has this advantage over the other wood dwellers in that at the approach of winter its fur, which from March to November is cinnamon or reddish brown of a shade best suited to match its accustomed surroundings, becomes in the course of a few weeks or even less perfectly white, and although for a time the brown fur still shows in spots, the general effect is such that of those that I have seen on the snow I should say that at least one half appeared actually whiter than the snow over which they ran, and this similarity of colouring with their surround- ings makes it possible for them to crouch in safety practically invisible to human eyes, and undoubtedly often baffling the keener glances of the hawks. Much has been written on the change of colour of the varying nare and other mammals and birds, but there are few subjects concerning which more mistakes have been made. We read of the change taking place in a single night, coincident with the first fall of snow and of the actual blanching of the the individual hairs; one statement being quite as erroneous as the other. The change is really very simple. All mammals, in northern climes at least, shed their coat twice a year, acquiring a thicker fur in winter and a thinner one in summer, and in the present species the winter coat is white while the summer one is brown and the individual hairs never alter theit colour from the time they appear until they fall out. The change 81 jon. Department of Educatt Varying Hare from brown to white occurs in the autumn and for a short time the animal is somewhat ‘ mottled.” Then in March as the weather gets warmer the snow gradually disappears from the woods, the fur of the Northern hare, probably by reason of the wearing away of the tips and the shedding of the long hairs gets more and more mottled with brown, the change in most cases that have come under my notice commencing at the back of the neck, on the feet and the under surface of the body, and in an astonishingly short time the dark summer coat is fairly resumed. Although belated snowstorms must often give them occasion to regret the loss of their winter coats, taking one year and another, the change seems to be wonderfully well timed, and at most they are really no worse off than those other inhabitants of the woods that wear their dark coats throughout the winter. When the white people first made their homes in this part of the country they found only these big, long-legged Northern hares dwelling in the uncleared forest, never a very numerous race in all probability in spite of the advantages of tremendous swiftness and a coat which copied the colour of their surroundings at all times of the year. Preyed upon by Indians, wolves and lynxes and the various members of the weasel tribe, which have since been exterminated, or nearly so, because of the beauty of their fur, as well as their numer- ous enemies which still survive in more or less reduced numbers, the coming of the white man must have proved rather an advantage than an added danger to this long suffering, thin-skinned defenceless race of animals, and it seems probable that they did increase in numbers to a certain extent for the first two hundred years or so. As recently as fifty years ago they were still common and apparently the only species in Southern New Hampshire, but somewhere about that time the little gray rabbit or cotton-tail made its appearance; no one could tell from whence, though it seems generally to have received the title of cony at first to distinguish it from the other which had always been called rabbit, and though hardly one half as large and much shorter of foot and even more timid and helpless, it now became evident that the larger Species was disappearing as the smaller increased in numbers. | am told that at one time, something like thirty years ago, there were no white rabbits to be found within miles of this place. Then they appeared and even-seemed to slightly increase in numbers for a few years only to vanish as before, and it has been that way ever 82 Varying Hare since. At intervals of perhaps seven or eight years they came back in scattered bands and endeavoured to establish themselves in their old haunts but the result was always the same. Rather more than twenty years ago they were quite numerous for several successive seasons in a neighbour’s wood lot only half a mile from here. I can just recall a cool afternoon, which I am quite sure must have been sometime in the last of autumn, when my cousin and | raced up the western slope of those woods with the sun- light streaming in beneath the pines, and the one distinct thing in my memory of that time is the image of a big, yellowish brown hare hobbling up the hill before us. That must have been about the last of their occupation of that place, and up to the present time I have only on one occasion found as much as a track there. Several years ago our cat caught a young hare of this species, and I think it must have been the following winter that I heard of several having been killed in the neighbourhood. From that time until the fall of 1894 1 was unable to learn of the existence of any of these animals for miles around, though it seems that on the slope of a certain low pine-covered hill only three or four miles distant a colony have dwelt uninterruptedly from all accounts since the time of the red men. In the fall of 1894 a gunner told me that only a day before he had been shooting grouse along the edge of a swamp hardly a mile away, and in pushing into a thick clump of hemlocks to secure a wounded bird had started a white rabbit which he succeeded in shooting. In the course of the next few weeks I heard of several that were killed in those woods and there were doubtless many others which I failed to hear of, but all my tramps in that direction for the purpose of finding them proved unsuccessful—at least until the snow came. Late in the winter I took a snow-shoe tramp in that direction, the first time I had been there since the first snow-fall of the season, and within two miles found the unmistakable track of a white rabbit; there was no mistaking the broad oval foot-prints, even if the distance between them had not served to distinguish them from those of the gray rabbit which crossed their line of march at frequent intervals. The track, which apparently had been made several days, led me from the swamp into the low rolling birch land, and now other and fresher ones of the same kind joined it until a well-beaten path running east and west was formed and this presently joined anothes 83 Vatying Hare at right angles. The latter proved to be the main highway with several branch roads similar to the first. But I was unable to catch sight of any of the members of the com- munity which, judging from the tracks, must have numbered several dozen at least, and as the snow was again falling rapidly and obliter- ating the maze of tracks | was endeavouring to unravel, I was obliged to give it up for the time being. Several times in the course of the next month I visited those woods, sometimes finding the tracks I was in search of and sometimes not, for the colony was apparently an unsettled and roving one and I seldora found it established twice in the same place, though at times it must have stopped for several days or even weeks before starting off in search of new feeding grounds and seldom moving any great distance each time. I failed as at first, however, to see the hares themselves, though a dog would undoubtedly have driven them into sight for me had I chosen to take one along. In March, with a companion, I was skirting the western border of the swamp and while still half a mile or more to the south of where I had seen any of their tracks, a white rabbit started out of the bushes only a few yards away and after creeping rather slowly along under cover of the ground laurel for a little distance, broke all at once into a series of tremendous bounds that soon carried it out of sight among the trees. The snow was frozen hard, with patches of bare ground on the southern slope, so that tracking was out of the question. We tramped about there for some time and saw white rabbits running before us in four or five different instances, and though we may have seen the same rabbit twice, there were certainly more than one, and | believe three or four that we saw. At last on the very edge of the swamp, where the dry and frozen swamp-gaass and bushes stood in clumps between the ice-bound alders and maples, a big white fellow sprang out of the thick tussock and in attemping to dash away over the ice got fairly caught between the close-growing stems of a bunch of red willows and was easily secured. It proved to be a large male whose smooth white fur showed but little sign of the spring shedding, only a spot here and there that hardly showed at all when the animal was in motion. A few days later there was no sign of them to be found at that place 84 Varying Hare or in the woods near by, and I am convinced that purely by chance we had intercepted the little band in its march southward and that those killed in this and the neighbouring towns that season where none had been seen for years, were wanderers from some- where farther north, impelled southward by the same unreasoning impulse that is said once in every seven or eight years to drive the lemmings southward from the Arctic Ocean, and which, to a lesser degree appears to affect most of the smaller fur-clad animals of the North. Only the winter before | had tramped through these same woods after almost every tracking snow, and I am able to say positively that the gray rabbit was the only species to be found there, and three years later it was the same again; the only one that has visited these woods since then, as far as I can learn, being a solitary individual that the next winter passed within half a mile of the house where I write, going due southeast without swerving more than a few rods from a direct course at any time and crossing open fields and meadows indifferently. I followed its tracks closely for nearly two miles and saw no evidence of its having stopped to eat or rest at any time. Finally it struck off across a wind-swept field where the drifting snow wholly obliterated its footprints, and | have often wondered what eventually became of the solitary wanderer hopping away alone towards the sea whose roar was already distinctly audible only a few miles away. From what I can learn I should say that the border land between the countries of the white rabbit and the gray is somewhere between forty and fifty miles to the north of this southeastern corner of New Hampshire; beyond that I have been unable as yet to find the gray rabbits, though for the first thirty miles they are as abundant as they are here, and further west their range is said to extend well up into Canada. Mr. P. C. True writing from Pittsfield, New Hampshire, under date of March Ist 1899, says: ‘‘I have consulted a number. of veteran fox hunters here and gathered what information I could on the subject. “‘The white rabbits, or jacks, as they are called here, have almost disappeared; what few are left are found only in the big forests. I am told that the cause of the departure is that the conies devour their young; conies are very numerous as were jacks previous 85 American Polar Hare to the last decade. The first are said to have been brought here from Massachusetts by an old fox hunter some thirty years ago.” The earlier writers of the natural history of this country pretty generally agree in giving the habitat of the northern hare as the whole of the Eastern states south to Virginia, and scarcely allude to the gray rabbit at all, some authors describing it as a Western species not found east of the Mississippi. But Thoreau’s diary written in the woods of Concord, Massachusetts, half a century ago and more, makes no mention of the larger species, all the hares referred to being unmistakably cotton-tails. Last winter, 1898-9, | paid frequent visits to the only permanent colony of white rabbits that | know of in this region, situated three or four miles to the northeast, where they occupy perhaps one hundred acres of old growth timber, only occasionally wandering into the neighbouring woods and swamps where the gray rabbits abound. But the latter in small numbers penetrate to all parts of the white rabbits’ domain, some of them even taking up their quarters in the very heart of it, and | have sore misgivings that sooner or later the original inhabitants will be forced to leave, for just as the white men have driven away the dark-skinned native, so among the hares matters seem to be reversed, and the dark-skinned new-comer is driving off the native whites. Varieties of the Varying Hare 1. Varying Hare. Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan). Range and description as above. 2. Labrador Varying Hare. Lepus americanus Erxleben. Yellow- ish-brown to drab in summer, always pure white in winter. Range. Replaces the former in the wooded regions of Labrador. Weta 3. Nova Scotian Varying Hare. Lepus americanus struthiopus” Bangs. Much darker and duller than the varying hare, with no ferru- ginous tints. Range. Takes the place of the common form in Nova Scotia. American Polar Hare Lepus arcticus Ross Called also Arctic Hare, White Hare. Length. 23 inches. Description. Hair somewhat curly, white at all seasons except the tips of the ears which are blackish; a few long blackish hairs 86 ‘AOUS OU} 4SUTeSB Ysinsurjsip 2, DIeY OS ST GOMM “OSeIaG Ie,UIM 9}IYA\ 94} UT Yjo_G ‘"yeuiUe pally ATYSely & won suo PueY-Ioer ‘JT Wio1y DaydesZojoyd eimsy mAOw BN YW AG (Snuniuis42 snuvdd4aup snda7) AAVH ONIAMVA American Polar Hare scattered over the back in summer and the ears and face slightly gray (the allied polar hares of Labrador and New- foundland are subject to a greater change. See below). ani Northern Baffin Land and the Arctic Islands of North merica. The polar hares are the Arctic explorers of the great race of hares and jack-rabbits, who, finding the climate and con- ditions up there at the top of the world well suited to their tastes, have established themselves, and continue to raise their families and live happily in that wide ice-sheeted country far away from the sun, wearing their coats of winter white from year’s end to year’s end. A little farther south the hares put on their brown fur for a few months in midsummer, and in most parts of Canada are six months wnite and six months brown. The typical polar hare of the Arctic region is a creature of the snow, depending on it for protection against the weather and all other enemies. Its home is a hole dug in a snow drift, or a cranny beneath some outcropping ledge, and its food stone-worts and _ lichens and the twigs of dwarfed alpine plants as hardy as itself. In the long dim-lighted winter, at the extreme north, it probably has few enemies to fear, except the little blue fox; and in the few weeks of so-called summer the gyrfalcons and the Arctic owls. But the gray-wolf and the wolverine and the Canada lynx have little fear of the cold and follow the polar hare well up within the Arctic circle. When it is not looking for its scanty fare of herbage the polar hare sits crouching in its form, careless of the dry drifting snow which often completely buries it while it sleeps. If the gyrfalcon or the snowy owl should swing up in sight against the dark sky, it only hugs the snow the closer trusting to remain unseen; and when the Arctic fox comes prowling along the trail, the hare is ready for a run with him across miles of unbroken snow, just as eager to escape and go on living, as if there were long summers amid green fields to look forward to. It is a little curious that a member of the most thin-skinned and generally in- capable race of mammals should be the one to prove itself best able to withstand the hardship of an Arctic life; yet these polar hares have been found living on ice fields over frozen seas twenty miles from the nearest land. 87 Marsh Hare Varieties of the Polar Hare 1. American Polar Hare. Lepus arcticus Ross. Range and description as above. 2. Bangs’ Polar Hare. Lepus arcticus bangst Rhoads. Upper parts gray in summer, ears black. Range. Takes the place of the American polar hare in New foundland. 3. Miller’s Polar Hare. Lepus arcticus labradortus Miller. Pelage hair brown in summer. Range. Replaces the American polar hare in Labrador. 4. Greenland Hare. Lepus grenlandicus Rhoads. Differs from the American polar hare in the more protruding incisor teeth and other skull peculiarities. Range. Replaces the above in Greenland. Marsh Hare Lepus palustris Bachman Length. 18 inches. Description. Above yellowish-brown, with many black hairs scat- tered through the pelage. Underparts grayish, underside of tail grayish, never white as in the cottontail. Ears much shorter than in that species, and feet but scantily covered with hair. Range. Coast of North Carolina to eastern Georgia and northern Florida. The marsh hare is an inhabitant of the low seaboard of our Southern States. It is slightly larger than the cottontail with which it is often associated, and differs in its nearly bare feet and more scanty pelage. It is distinctly an animal of the wet swamps, not hesitating to take to the water and plunge through the deepest bogs when disturbed. Bachman says that it runs low on the ground and cannot leap with the same ease, strength and agility as the cottontail. From the shortness of its legs and ears and its general clumsy appearance, as we see it splashing through the mud and mire, it somewhat reminds one of an over- grown rat. Varieties of the Marsh Hare 1. Marsh Hare. Lepus palustris Bachman. Range and descrip- tion as above. 88 Water Hare; Jack Rabbit 2. Florida Marsh Hare. Lepus patustris paludicola (Miller & Bangs). Darker, with less buff in its colouration. Range. Southern Florida, grading into the former to the northward. Water Hare Lepus aquaticus Bachman Length. 21 inches. Description. Finely mottled above with buff, rufous and black hairs, buff predominating more than in the cottontail; belly and underside of tail pure white. Feet rather scantily haired and ears longer than in the cottontail. Range. Lower Mississippi Valley north to Southern Illinois. The swamps of the lower Mississippi harbour still another member of the rabbit tribe—the great water hare, an animal with habits so far as we know similar to those of the marsh hare, but in size larger than that species or the cottontail. The difficulty of following this and the last species into their swampy retreats renders them but little known to hunters and is responsible for our lack of knowledge concerning them. Jack Rabbit Lepus campestris Bachman Called also Prairie Hare, Jackass Hare, White-tailed Jack Rabbit. Length. 25 inches. Description. Larger than any of the preceding, with very long hind legs and ears. Colour above yellowish gray, sides and back of neck lighter, below white, tail entirely white. In the northern part of its range it turns pure white in winter, farther south the change is partial or possibly does not occur at all. Range. From Western Minnesota and Iowa to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and from Central Kansas and Colorado to the Sas- katchewan plains. Represented southward and westward by a group of allied species known as black-tailed jack rabbits. 89 Jack Rabbit Cottontails of one form or another stretch all across our Con- tinent and varying hares occur Westward in the boreal forests just as they do in the East, but the distinctively Western member of the hare tribe is the jack rabbit. From the Eastern border of the plains to the shores of the Pacific there is scarcely any spot Where one form or another of the jack rabbit does not occur, but farther East it is unknown. The white-tailed jack rabbit is the one found on the Great Plains and upper part of the Great Basin. Southward and partly overlapping is the range of the Texan or black-tailed jack rabbit while in California is found still another species. Living entirely in the open, jack rabbits are more than ever dependent upon the protective colouration, speed and delicacy of hearing which are so characteristic of the whole tribe. Dr. Coues says, ‘‘The first sign one has usually of a hare which has squatted low in hopes of concealment, till its fears force it to fly, is a great bound into the air with lengthened body and erect ears. The instant it touches the ground it is up again, it does not come fairly down and gather itself for the next spring but seems to hold its legs stiffly extended, touch only its toes and rebound by the force of its impact. As it gains on its pursuers, and its fears subside, the springs grow weaker, and finally the animal squats in its tracks on its haunches with a jerk, to look and listen. One fore foot is advanced a little before the other, and the ears are held pointing in opposite directions. The attitude at such times is highly characteristic.” For its home the jack rabbit has only an open ‘‘form” beneath a bush or clump of weeds; here it sleeps in sunshine and storm always on the alert for danger, ready to dash away on the instant. When the ‘rabbit brush” grows thick they are comparatively safe and well sheltered, but in certain bare stretches of unbroken waste land they have to seek shelter as best they may, crouch- ing beside some white wind-bleached stalk or in the shadow of a telegraph pole. The northern species turns white in winter and so escapes observation on the snow. The young, from one to six in number, are brought forth in the form, which is simply a little space among the weeds and bushes where the grass, when there is any, has been trampled flat and perhaps slightly carpeted with loose fur. The time of birth varies from late winter to early summer go Jack Rabbit according to latitude, in the North, where only one or two litters are born each season, June is about as early as the young ones ever make their appearance. When first born they are well furred and have their eyes open, by the time they are a week old they are active and pretty well able to look out for their own safety, and at the end of a month or two are weaned and may leave their parents and start out to get a living for themselves. They feed on buffalo grass and weeds of various sorts and the leaves and bark of shrubs and low bushes. In the South where grease-wood and cactus are abundant they fare well; and wherever men cultivate the land, the jack rabbits make themselves at home at once and stuff on garden vegetables, alfalfa and the bark of young orchard trees and so get themselves disliked. In a natural state their numbers are apparently held in check more by scarcity of forage than by the inroads of their enemies, and just as soon as cultivation yields them abundant fodder, they increase to an alarming extent, in spite of the farmers’ efforts to destroy them. The eagle, the Western red-tailed hawk, the prairie falcon and the marsh hawk occasionally kill jack rabbits, especially the young ones, but their most destructive foes, next to man, are the wolves and foxes. The coyote is particularly successful in hunting them, and near the border of the woods the gray fox and bob-cat kill them in considerable numbers. In regions where the coyotes have been killed and driven off it has almost invariably followed that the jack rabbits have so multiplied as to prove a much more destructive nuisance than the coyotes had ever been. Occasionally an epidemic reduces their numbers locally, but a very few seasons usually serve to establish them again in their former numbers. During the fall and winter jack rabbits are hunted and killed in great numbers, the most popular method seems to be shoot- ing them from waggons or buckboards with the assistance of dogs who start the jacks from their cover and bring in the game when it is killed. One man will sometimes kill five or six dozen jack- rabbits in a day in this manner. The greatest number, however, are killed in drives, an area several miles in extent is beaten over by men on horseback who gt Jack Rabbit close in as they advance, driving the game before them, usually into some kind of enclosure or corral from which there is no escape. The number of rabbits taken in one day in this manner runs from a few hundred up to ten or even twenty thousand. Driving jack rabbits, though on a much smaller scale than just described, seems always to have been a favourite pastime with most tribes of Western Indians. By far the most exhilarating and sportsman-like method of hunting jack rabbits is coursing with greyhounds, in the same manner that coursing has always been followed in the Old World; jack rabbits are if anything swifter and more resourceful in dodg- ing the hounds than are the European hares. The jack rabbits are started from their forms and go off like the wind with the greyhounds in hot pursuit, while the rider follows as closely as he can. The whole thing goes with a swing and dash to the very end, the rabbit dodging, leaping and doubling frantically, until either he has succeeded in reaching the brush and safety, or the greyhound has seized him and both go rolling over and cver together along the ground. Although the fur of the jack rabbit seems to be well enough suited for felting it is not much used at present, while the skin is too tender and the fur itself too brittle to make it of much value as fur. The Western Indians, however, have always held jack rabbit skins in high esteem for clothing. They twist the skin in Narrow strips which are fastened together to make robes, the skins being twisted in such a way as to leave the fur on both sides making a warm durable robe of exceeding lightness. g2 By W. E. Carin LITTLE CHIEF HARE, OR PIKA (Ochotona princeps) _ These rare photographs, made in the Bitter Root Mountains, were secured by setting up the camera covering a rock on which th animal was in the habit of sunning himself. The instrument was carefully covered with weeds and leaves, and the photographer re- tired for a protracted wait until the pika should appear. PIKAS Family Ochotonide Pika Ochotona princeps Richardson Also called Little Chief Hare, Cony. Length. 7 inches. Description. Allied to the rabbits in structure, but in external appearance more rat-like. Legs very short, all about the same length, feet padded on the soles, nc external tail, ears large, fur thick brown above, blackish on the back, yellower on the head, below grayish; ears short, edged with white, feet white. Range. Northern Rocky Mountains, allied species in Colorado, Northern California, Alaska, etc. ‘These curious little animals occur only in the northern part of Asia and Alaska and southward on the higher mountain slopes. Their haunts are rock slides where they find shelter in the numerous holes and crevices among the boulders and fallen debris. Dr. Merriam states that they run with great rapidity for an animal with such short legs, travelling considerable distances from their dens to their feeding ground. They work diligently through the day gathering various favourite alpine plants, which are piled up among the rocks forming veritable hay-stacks for their winter use. They are watchful and alert, giving vent to their shrill bleating call when a stranger approaches the vicinity of one of their colonies, dashing into their retreats only to emerge again to see if the intruder has departed. They seem never to become plump and fat and their emaciated appearance has gained for them the name of ‘starved rats’ among the miners of certain regions. At any rate they are harmless little beasts and will well repay the naturalist who may visit their remote habitat and make a careful study of them, and being one of those ‘‘connecting links ” in nature’s chain everything we learn about them seems to possess a peculiar interest. 93 AMERICAN PORCUPINES Family Erethizontide Wherever found porcupines may always be known by their spines. The short legs, plantigrade feet and short thick tail are also characteristic of our North American species, but foreign porcupines exhibit many differences in their structure, one kind found in South America having a long prehensile tail like our opossum. The quills or spines of the porcupine are scattered about amongst the hair and all point backward but may be elevated at will by the muscular con- traction of the skin and being so loosely attached at the base are frequently impaled in the face or feet of any animal which may come in contact with them. In the Canada porcupine the quills are usually shorter than the hair but in certain foreign species they are greatly developed. Besides the Canada porcupine we have one other closely allied species in North America, the yellow-haired porcupine (Erethizon epixanthus) of British Columbia and western United States. Canada Porcupine Evethtzon dorsatus (Linnzus) Length. 28 inches. Description. Dark-brown to nearly black, quills stage with yellow- ish, two to four inches long mostly concealed by the hair, which reaches a length of six inches; toes, four on the front feet and five on the hind. Range. Northern parts of North America south to Maine and in the higher mountains of Pennsylvania. Not found south of the Canadian faunal zone. The porcupine is much more interesting as a species than as an individual. Looked at either as an example of the beneficent protection which is rendered to every creature according to its needs, or as a branch of the rodent family that has succeeded in perfecting a most unique method of defence through the law of the survival of the fittest, it furnishes an interesting study. 04 By A. R. Dugmore GANADA PORCUPINE (Erethizon dorsatus), WITH QUILLS THROWN FORWARD _IN WILD STATE Canada Porcupine It is easy enough to imagine the long chain of successive steps that have led up from some far-off ancestor, who survived because of the possession of a coat of rougher and more bristling hair than his fellows, and in transmitting this to his decendants also insured them a longer period of existence. But if the one owning the most effective armour was safer from attack than his neighbours, he must also have experienced greater difficulty in finding for himself a mate, for his prickly coat and awkward stumbling carriage would make him just as unpopular with his own people as among his enemies. So instead of choosing according to his taste he must needs take what he could get, his heavy coat of mail preventing him from winning in any con- test of activity with his rivals, and in all probability he would be obliged in the end to put up with some equally ill-favoured and stupid outcast of the other sex. The Canada porcupine of the present day is apparently a result of this sort of selection, stumping about the woods like a turtle in its shell, intent only on filling his stomach with the green bark of trees he hauls himself laboriously up among the branches and strips them bare, killing a tree for his meal. He lacks beauty either of form, motion or colour as well as softness of fur; his eyes are little and dull with never a glimmer of thought behind them, serving little better purpose than to direct him from one tree to the next and to distinguish between daytime and night. Being independent of the protection afforded by darkness, which so many animals rely on for safety, he is free to go and come as he pleases, and at least shows the good taste to pre- fer the sunshine, at all events in cool weather. In fact he has probably found it safer to go about by day, for with the ex- ception of man, the greater part of his enemies are night prowl- ers. The most persistent of these is the fisher, who manages somehow to seize him by the throat where he is least protected and so avoid serious contact with his quills. The various big cats of the northern woods will also hunt porcupine rather than go hungry, though it is often a sorry choice for them. The porcupine’s quills are hard to avoid, and each one is fitted with numberless little barbs that, once the quill penetrates the skin, keep forcing it deeper and deeper into the sufferers flesh with every involuntary twinge of his muscles, until a vital part is stabbed and the hunter pays high for his meal, many a porcupine avenging his own death weeks after 95 ’ Canada Porcupine he has been eaten; even the wily fisher is said to be occasion- ally killed in this manner. The porcupine’s home is usually a hollow log or cavern among the rocks. Here he can sleep in comparative safety curled up with his back to the entrance, presenting a most formidable chevaux de frise against attack. In cold rough weather he stays indoors day and night, probably endeavouring to sleep and forget his hunger. As soon as it grows a little milder he crawls out and makes haste to stuff himself with bark and green twigs to nourish him during the !next’ cold :spell. When the snow melts at the approach of spring and the new sap starts up under the bark to swell the buds in the March sunshine he fares somewhat better, and long before the last drift has vanished is able to gather a taste of young green leaves along sunny banks beneath the evergreens, together with the hardier sorts that winter under the snow, now laid bare again to the sunlight. Porcupines are not prolific animals; a pair of twins to each family early in the summer appears to be the general rule, the youngsters being about as rough and ugly looking as their parents. POCKET:* GOPHERS (Family Geomyide ) These curious little animals are characterized by their large cheek pouches opening outside the mouth, and their modified fore feet with immense claws suited for digging. Their bodies are heavy and their movements somewhat clumsy. The skull is thick, and in the species of Geomys which is the only genus represented in the East, the upper incisors are grooved. In the allied genus Thomomys, which is abundantly represented in the West, this is not the case. The gophers are nocturnal and live in communities, burrow- ing in the ground like the marmots. They are very abundant in our Western States and two species extend eastward into the 96 Tom Sncy “SM cw. Aq (SHIDSLOD nA BVIIGL SS) | ONTLLOA "OVd STTING SADA “NT WIMS ANIGNOWOd NVOTYAA Georgia Gopher Mississippi Valley, while several closely related forms occur in the Southern States. Georgia Gopher Geomys tuza (Ord) Also called Pocket Gopher, Salamander. Length. 10 inches. Description. Cinnamon-brown with a somewhat fulvous tinge, an indistinct darker median stripe on the back; below dull ochraceous; hairs on the feet white, tail almost naked. Range. Pine barrens of southern Georgia; represented in Florida and Alabama by closely related geographic races. This little animal furnishes another example of the ambiguity of popular names. By all rights of priority and descent he is entitled to the name of gopher given to their Western relatives by the early French explorers, and signifying ‘‘ honeycomb” in reference to their numerous burrows. Unfortunately our Southern pioneers bestowed this name upon a burrowing tortoise, while the true gopher was christened the ‘‘salamander,’’ a name which is misleading and to which he has no just claim. Popular names, however, are too firmly established to yield to argument, and so the Georgia gopher will remain the salamander in spite of us. Thoroughly adapted for a subterranean life, these animals spend almost all their time in their burrows, and even where they are abundant few people are acquainted with their appear- ance or habits, their presence being known only by their bur- rows and the gnawing of roots and vegetables. ‘Gopher burrows seem to have neither beginning nor end,” writes Vernon Bailey. ‘‘They are extended and added to year after year and in many cases those dug by a single animal would measure a mile or more, if straightened out. At the end of a year a gopher may often be found within twenty rods of the point from which he started, but in travelling this distance he has paid no attention to the points of the compass. He follows a tender root for a few feet, then moves to one side, encounters a stone and makes a second turn. A layer of mellow soil entices him off in another direction, and so on through a thousand devious crooks 97 Prairie Gopher and turns. At intervals openings are made through which to dis- charge the earth that makes the little piles called gopher-hills.” Gophers have regular storehouses where roots and other foods are stored away, being carried in the peculiar pockets on each side of the face. Dr. Goode describes their digging habits as follows: ‘‘ They dig by grubbing with the nose and a rapid shovelling with the long curved fore paws assisted by the pushing of the hind feet, which removes the earth from beneath the body and propels it back with great power a distance of eight or ten inches. When a small quantity of earth has accumulated in the rear of the miner, around he whirls with a vigorous flirt of the tail and, joining his fore paws before his nose, he transmutes himself into a sort of wheelbarrow pushing the dirt before him to a convenient distance.” Except during the breeding season gophers live singly. They are very pugnacious and fight viciously and, when caught away from their burrows, do not hesitate to attack their captor. Varieties of the Georgia Gopher 1. Georgia Gopher. Geomys tuza (Ord). Description and range as above. 2. Florida Gopher. G. tuza floridanus (Audubon & Bachman). Rather larger and duller in colour, with a white spot under the chin. Range. Eastern Florida, St. Mary’s River to Eau Gallic. 3. West Florida Gopher. G. tuza austrinus (Bangs). Paler, with much more white below. Range. Western Florida. | 4. Alabama Gopher. G. tuza mobilensis Merriam. Smaller and darker than the Georgia gopher. Range. Extreme Northwestern Florida and Alabama. 5. Island Gopher. G. cumberlandius Bangs. Larger than the Georgia gopher, but like it in colour. Range. Cumberland Island, Georgia. Prairie Gopher Geomys bursarius (Shaw) Also called Pocket Gopher. 98 “WI UJIM GN YO4ed OF Jopso uy fouUNy sq FQuoTe Jooy Lo Snp prey sionsind sw ssqiye paudeis0j0yg *dyl] SurMOLING ‘punoisiepunN ue 10j poydepe |[e ‘sive JFOYS puke spuey S1q ‘pling axT]-sfour sr SutMoyyg aytey “aM Ag (sduomoys) YAHAOD LAMOOd NYALSAM S Prairie Gopher Length. 10 inches. Description. Dark, pinkish-brown, inclining to chestnut in some specimens, but with no fulvous tints. Darker on the middle of the back; under surface slightly lighter, but not distinctly so as in the Georgia gopher; hair on the feet white; tail hairy, but scantily so toward the tip; hair of basal half brown, terminal half white. Range. Mississippi Valley, from North Dakota to eastern Kansas and southern Missouri and including southern Wisconsin and most of Illinois. The general appearance and habits of this animal are similar to those of the preceding species. Farther South and West are several other gophers, while from the Plains to the Pacific are found the gray gopher and its allies with ungrooved front teeth, but otherwise much like the animals above described. POCKET, MICE (Family Heteromyide) These mice are restricted to the western United States and Mexico and are confined largely to the arid regions, so charac- teristic of that portion of the country. They comprise two very different groups of animals—the true pocket mice, little mouse- like creatures with rather coarse hair, and the larger kangaroo rats, with immense hind legs and long brushy-tipped tails, re- calling the jerboas of the Old World. Although so different in external appearance, these pocket mice are allied to the mole-like gophers that we have just been considering, and it will be seen at once upon examining them that they possess the same curious external check pouches. We have three modifications of the same type of animal just as we find in the true mice; the gopher corresponding to the meadow mouse, the pocket mouse to the deer mouse and the kangaroo rat to the jumping mouse. The first is adapted for a burrowing life, the second for a life on the surface of the ground and the third specially modified for leaping. 99 Plains Pocket Mouse; Ord’s Kangaroo Rat Plains Pocket Mouse Perognathus flavescens (Merriam) Length. 5 inches. Description. External cheek pouches lined with hair opening ot either side of the mouth; hair harsh; grayish buff above mixec with dusky white below, sides, ring around eye anc spot behind the eye clear buff, feet and legs white. Range. Plains from South Dakota to northern Texas and west to the base of the Rocky Mountains. Numerous other species occur throughout the sandy arid regions of the West from British Columbia to Mexico and California. Very little is known of the life history of the pocket mice, mainly because they are strictly nocturnal in habits and pass the daytime in their burrows in the sandy ground with the openings generally stopped with earth. Like the gophers they carry their food in their curious cheek pouches and store it away in their subterranean granaries. Ord’s Kangaroo Rat Perodipus ordt (Woodhouse) Length. 9.60 inches. Description. Ochraceous buff above, blackish on the rump. Sides of nose, spot behind each ear and band across the thighs white, under parts white; tail dusky down the middle, above and below, showing white bases to hairs on either side. Range. Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Many other species occur through the arid regions of the West. This is another nocturnal inhabitant of the sandy plains of the Southwest. It makes an underground nest with numerous communicating passageways, the whole forming a low hillock which easily caves in and which horses and mules familiar with the country have learned to carefully avoid. Ernest Seton-Thompson gives an interesting account of a nest of this little animal which he investigated. It was situated under the sheltering spines of a bunch of Spanish bayonets and thistles, which guarded effectually from would-be pursuers the nine open- 100 Ord’s Kangaroo Rat ings through any one of which the little rat could plunge down to his subterranean dwelling. These openings led to a rather in- tricate series of passageways opening one into the other in such a way as to lead the intruder to another exit rather than to the nest. The latter he found was reached by a short branch lead- ing from one of the above passageways, the mouth of which was apparently plugged up with earth by the little animal before de- parting, so as to further shield the nest from any intruders. The nest had a thick felting of fine grass and weed silk and a soft lining of feathers. Two other chambers were filled with over a pint of sunflower seeds and evidently served as_ storehouses. Of the mouse itself, which Mr. Thompson kept for a time in captivity, he writes: ‘‘He was the embodiment of restless energy. Palpitating with life from the tip of his translucent nose and ears to the end of his vibrant tail. He could cross the box at a single bound, and | now saw the purpose of his huge tail. In the extraordinary long flying leaps that Perodipus makes the tuft on the end does for him what the feathers do for an arrow. They keep him straight in the air in his trajectory. He was the most indefatigable little miner that I ever saw. ines little pinky-white paws, not much larger than a pencil point, seemed never weary of digging, and would send the earth out between his hind legs in little jets like a steam-shovel. He seemed tireless at his work. He first tunnelled the whole mass through and through and I doubt not made and unmade several ideal underground residences and solved many problems of rapid underground transit. Then he embarked in some landscape garden- ing schemes and made it his nightly business to entirely change the geography of his whole country, laboriously making hills and canyons wheresoever seemed unto him good.’’ Mr. Thompson had reason to suppose that the faint bird-like twitterings sometimes heard at night by cowboys and others on the plains are to be attributed to the Perodipus, being analogous to the songs which are uttered by some individuals of the common house mouse and the white-footed mouse of our woods. JUMPING MICE (Family Zapodide) These interesting mouse-like little animals are spread over all the Northern parts of North America. They differ in many re- spects from the true mice and can be recognized at once by their extremely long hind legs and tail and by the coarseness of their fur. In their jumping habits and long legs they resemble the jerboas of the Old World and the kangaroo rats of our Southwestern States. Their kangaroo-like appearance has given rise to the popu- lar belief that they are marsupials and carry their young in a pouch, which idea is of course wholly erroneous. We have two kinds of jumping mice, the meadow species, probably the best known, and the large, more handsome, wood- land jumping mouse, easily told by its white-tipped tail. Meadow Jumping Mouse Zapus hudsonius (Zimmerman) Length. 8.80 inches. Description. General colour yellowish fawn to rather dark ochra- ceous mixed with black-tipped hairs which predominate on the back making it much darker than the sides, belly white, some- what suffused with buff, feet white, tail white beneath brownish above, 130 mm. long. In autumn the fur is yellower with less dusky above. Range. From Hudson’s Bay to North Carolina, although those from the Southern States and from Labrador are slightly different. (See beyond.) This is a mouse of uncertain and varying abundance; as a general thing decidedly rare, then there will come a summer when any one with an eye at all for seeing things, may have half a dozen or even a dozen specimens brought to his notice; the most harmless, inoffensive, kangaroo-like little things with astonish- ingly long tails, they go bounding off over the grass before you or cower trembling in the stubble, sometimes allowing themselves 102. rey < e . WESTERN LONGTAIL MOUSE, CAUGHT IN THE BITTER ROOT MOUNTAINS ByW. E. Carlis LONG-TAILED JUMPING MOUSE (Zapus hudsonicus) (By C, William Beebe Meadow Jumping Mouse to be stroked or even taken in the hand without offering re- sistance or attempting to escape. They seem to be decidedly less intelligent than other mice, trusting mainly to good luck and their gift’.at jumping to carry them through whatever dangers threaten. Apparently they never look before they leap, so that that which should be their safety often proves their ruin, as they are about as likely to spring directly into the clutches of a cat or other enemy as in an opposite direction; in this manner they are frequently drowned in milk-pans and tubs of water which a little ordinary caution would have avoided. The last one I saw was on the bank of a stream in the woods where the wild grape-vines and smilax trailed along the edge of the water. At first it attempted to escape by crouching among the grass and dead leaves, but when I stooped down to examine it it began leaping in the characteristic aimless and erratic manner of the species. Finally when I made an attempt to capture it with a landing net it leaped well out from the bank and descended in the water where the current was pretty strong; the mouse, how- ever, proved equal to the occasion and swam swiftly enough against the stream for several yards to a floating branch along which it ran to the other end, where it again entered the water to swim ashore and hide among the driftwood and rubbish under the overhanging bank. Jumping mice are oftenest seen just after the meadows and hay fields are cleared in August, evidently driven from their ac- customed haunts and wandering lost and bewildered looking for new homes, or it may be that the summer drouth has compelled them to start out in search of water. Their food appears to consist, like that of the other outdoor mice, largely of grass seeds, undoubtedly varied at times by the addition of berries and mushrooms and probably insects. Ordinarily they creep about in the grass and leaves in a manner calculated to escape all notice, and it is only when threatened that they bring into use their powers of leaping, the value of which probably depends a good deal on its unexpected- ness and the sudden effect of surprise it produces on the enemy. These mice are dormant through a much longer season than are most hibernating animals, passing six months or more of every year in this condition curled up in their nests underground. 103 Meadow Jumping Mouse; Woodland Jumping Mouse I have seen a family of them turned up by the plough in May and they exhibited not the slightest symptom of life cil being handled and breathed upon; their bodies were soft and limp and warm and had every appearance of an animal in a_ perfectly dormant condition. Varieties of the Meadow Jumping Mouse Though the jumping mice bear a close resemblance to one another they exhibit slight variations in different parts of their range sothat the following have been distinguished. 1. Meadow Jumping Mouse. Zapus hudsontus (Zimmerman). Described above, ranges South to the mountains of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina and in the West to lowa. 2. Labrador Jumping Mouse. Zapus hudsonius ladas Bangs. Larger and darker, with longer legs and tail. Replaces the preceding in Labrador. Carolinian Jumping Mouse. Zapus hudsontus americanus (Barton). Replaces the above in the lowlands from North Carolina to the Hudson and Connecticut Valleys. Ww Woodland Jumping Mouse Zapus insignis Miller Length. 9.80 inches. Description. Larger than the meadow jump.ng mouse, with less dusky on the upper parts, sides inclining to rich orange, brightest on the cheeks; underparts pure snow white; tail with a white tip. Curiously enough this little animal has only three back (molar) teeth on each side of the upper jaw, while the meadow jumping mouse has four. Range. Canada to New England and South through the moun- tains to Maryland. Similar to the meadow jumping mouse in most respects, but far richer in colour; this beautiful little animal makes its home in the deep cool woods along some mountain stream, under the shelter of the hemlocks and laurel bushes. It seems to shun the society of man to which the other species is not averse, TO4 Rats, Mice and Lemmings and we have in the distribution of these two a fair parallel to that of the white rabbit and the cottontail. Varieties of the Woodland Jumping Mouse 1. Woodland Jumping Mouse. Zapus insignis Miller. Descrip: tion and range as above. 8. Roan Mountain Jumping Mouse. Z. insignis roanensis Preble. Smaller and darker. Range. Mountains of the Southern Alleghanies. 3. Northern Jumping Mouse. L. insignis abietorum Preble. Larger than the woodland jumping mouse. Range. Quebec and Ontario. RATS, MICE AND LEMMINGS (Family Muride) The late Dr. Coues described the members of this family in his usual terse style as ‘‘a feeble folk, comparatively insignificant in size and strength, holding their own in legions against a host of natural enemies, rapacious beasts and birds.” Few persons realize what a variety of them there are; spread over almost every part of the world they constitute a large proportion of the mammalian fauna and in eastern North America about one-quarter of our quadrupeds belong to this family. They are typical members of the rodent tribe in every res- pect. In habits they are for the most part nocturnal, while many species live in burrows or tunnel-like runways on the sur- face of the ground among the grass roots and seldom, if ever, venture forth into the light. Other species like the muskrat are aquatic and have become excellent swimmers. With few exceptions the members of this family are popu- larly known as rats or mice, a difference which has to do only with size. These names being originated for the two semi- domestic species—the house mouse and the Norway rat—which accompany man wherever he establishes himself, were afterwards bestowed upon our wild species, according as they approached one or the other in size. Rats and mice do not therefore con- 105 Rats, Mice and Lemmings stitute satisfactory groups in which to classify our species. The latter, however, are divisible into two very natural assemblages which we might term the short-tailed and Jong-tailed groups. The former are thick-set, short-legged and short-eared, with a very short tail, small eyes and thick fur. All of which charac- ters stamp them as burrowing animals. The long-tailed group, on the other hand, are sleek and graceful, standing higher on their legs, with usually large ears, big eyes and a long slender tail. We frequently find that it is impossible to properly classify animals by external characters alone, and so in this case we find the muskrat excluded from the first group where he_ belongs by his long tail, but after noting this exception we may adopt the characters as satisfactory without considering the more fun- damental peculiarities of teeth and skull upon which science relies. We have then three groups of the Murida: I. Meadow Mice, Lemmings and Muskrats (Sub-Family Microtine) Thick-set, short-legged, short-eared, short-tailed, 7. e. tail less than one-third the length of head and body (except muskrats) usually much less, mainly burrowers. Il. American Long-tailed Mice and Rats (Sub-Family Cricetine) More slender, with longer legs and generally larger ears and eyes and long tail, the latter always more than half the length of the head and body, generally much more. III. Introduced Mice and Rats (Sub-Family Murine) Resembling in a general way the last group, but with very differ- ent skull and teeth. All natives of the Old World, whence they have been brought by man. 106 MEADOW MICE, LEMMINGS AND MUSKRATS (Sub-Family Microtine) Cooper’s Lemming Mouse Synaptomys coopert Baird Length. 4.80 inches. Description. Upper front teeth grooved, tail very short (.70 inch). Colour sepia brown, with many black hairs interspersed, some individuals with a slight admixture of buff or reddish- brown hairs, others somewhat grayer. Below plumbeous, generally with whitish tips to the hair, ears very short, overtopped by the hair, mammez six. Range. Southern New England and Michigan to Indiana and Virginia and in the mountains to North Carolina. In external appearance the lemming mouse bears such a close resemblance to the common field or meadow mouse, with which it frequently associates, that it would readily be passed by. Without considering its minute anatomy it will be sufficient to call attention to its grooved front teeth by which it can always be recognized, its rather coarser hair and very short tail. The lemming mouse was first described by Professor Baird in 1857 and for years after its discovery it was regarded as excessively rare. Modern methods of trapping, however, have brought to light many specimens and we have learned that it is pretty generally distributed throughout our Northern States wherever conditions suitable for its requirements are to be found. In connection with its rediscovery in our Eastern States it is interesting to know that science is indebted to that inde- fatigable mouse hunter, the barn owl, for the knowledge of the occurrence of the lemming mouse in several localities, the skulls having been found in the pellets of hair and bones which the owls had ejected about their nests. Cold sphagnum bogs seem to be the favourite haunts of these little animals in the East, where they use the ample runways of the meadow mice which form an intricate network of passages beneath the damp moss and among the roots of the grass and rushes. In winter the sphagnum freezes up, forming a solid 107 Pied Lemming roof to the runways, but upon breaking into them abundant signs of life are to be seen and a trap set in such a situation is pretty sure to catch one or other of the several little animals which make these spots their home. For beside the lemming mouse and meadow mouse we find here also the red-backed mouse and the little shrew. In Indiana Mr. A. W. Butler finds the lemming mice frequenting stony hillside pastures, while their nests are placed under stumps or logs. Their food seems to consist of roots and tender shoots of grasses and rushes, though from the nature of their retreats it is practically impossible to gain much information as to their habits. Even when we are fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of one of the little animals it is usually merely a flash of brown fur, as he disappears with lightning speed along one of his passage ways. Varieties and Related Species of Lemming Mice 1. Cooper’s Lemming Mouse. Syuaptomys cooperi Baird. Range and description as above. 2. Dismal Swamp Lemming Mouse. Synaptomys cooperi hela- letes (Merriam). Similar, but with larger head and more massive skull. Range. Replaces the common species in Dismal Swamp, Vir- ginia. 3. Northern Lemming Mouse. Synaptomys faiuus Bangs. Smaller and darker, with narrower skull. Range. Northern New England, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. The northern representative of Cooper's lem- ming mouse. 4. True’s Lemming Mouse. Synaptomys innuitus True. Re- sembles Cooper's lemming mouse in general appearance, but has a very different skull, with much narrower, paler, coloured incisor teeth. Female with eight mamme. Range. Labrador (Fort Chimo and Rigoulette). 5. Preble’s Lemming Mouse. Synaptomys sphagnicola Preble. Similar to the last, but larger (5.25 inches long). Range. Base of Mt. Washington, Fabyans, N. H Pied Lemming Dicrostonyx hudsonius (Pallas) Length. 6 inches. Description, Summer. Gray above, more or less dappled with rusty 108 Pied Lemming red and with a black line down the back, below dull gray tinged with rusty. Water, nearly pure white. The most ex- traordinary peculiarity of this animal is the enormous dove- lopment of the nails on the two middle toes of the front feet. They are square or rather club-shaped at the end and fully a quarter of an inch in length. Range. Barren Grounds of Arctic America from Labrador to Alaska. The name lemming is usually associated with the Arctic re- gions or with the barren mountains of Norway, in which latter locality the term originated. While it is true that most lemmings are found in these regions, it is also true that so far as_ struc- tural peculiarities go, the lemming mice which have just been considered are quite as much lemmings as their Arctic allies, but it is hard to draw a distinction between the lemmings and meadow mice, so perfectly do they grade into one another. The pied lemming lives in burrows in the beds of moss and lichens which cover the northern tundra and feeds solely on vegetable matter. They seem like other species of lemmings to be subject to great variation in abundance from year to year, and in localities where they abound the snow owls are also plentiful, nesting close to the haunts of the lemmings, which in such cases constitute their sole food. So far as we know, however, the lemmings of Arctic Am- erica are not subject to such well-marked migrations as charac- terize those of Norway, where probably from overcrowding and consequent scarcity of food there often occurs a great exodus to some other locality. Dr. Coues says of their migration: ‘‘ Noth- ing can stop them; they proceed straight on in their course, urged by some restless impulse, swimming broad rivers and lakes and invading towns which may lie in their way.” As to their habits Mr. E. W. Nelson states that some captive Alaskan lemmings were amusing, inoffensive little creatures and from the first allowed themselves to be handled without attempting to bite. ‘‘They would climb up into my hand and from it to my shoulder without a sign of haste or fear, but with odd curiosity, kept their noses continually sniffing and peered at everything with their bright bead-like eyes. When eating they held their food in their fore paws.” The change of colour in winter and summer is accomplished by a complete spring and fall moult of the hair, the white coat being much longer and_ heavier. 109 False Lemming Mouse In Alaska there occurs another lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus) which is of a rusty colour and never changes white in winter. False Lemming Mouse Phenacomys latimanus Merriam Length. 5.30 inches. Description. Strikingly like the meadow mouse in external ap- pearance but with rooted molar teeth. Paie yellow cinnamon brown above with an admixture of black hairs on the back, below whitish gray; tail dark above, white below. Range. Known only from Ungava, Labrador and the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario. A somewhat larger species oc- curs in Labrador and Quebec (P. ce/atus) and others in the Northwest. The most interesting point in the history of this rare mouse is its close external re- semblance to the meadow mouse. For many years speci- mens in the National Museum passed as meadow mice until Dr. Merriam discovered that the back (molar) teeth did not grow continuously from the bottom as do those of the meadow mice, but possessed regular roots as in the red-backed mice, a matter of small popular interest but of great scientific importance as it shows us one more link in the chain of evolution. Little is known of the habits of this mouse, though Mr. G. S. Miller, Jr., states that in Ontario he found it frequent- ing high upland — barrensY covered with stunted blue- berry bushes. Its burrow was found running down by a decayed stump and terminating in a_ hollow, evidently intended for the winter nest. Blueberries appeared to constitute its principal food at this season. Lower jaw of Phenacomys, enlarged, to show rooted molar teeth. (After Muller.) Lower jaw of Field Mouse, enlarged, to show unrooted molars. (After Muller.) IIo MICE AND SHREWS OF THE EASTERN STATES Photographed from skins to show relative proportions t. Pine Mouse (Microtus pinetorum) (uniform dull chestnut, fur very soft) z. Red-backed Mouse (Evotomys gappert) (rusty chestnut, brightest on back) 3. White-footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) (fawn color, with white belly, ears large) 4. Long-tailed Jumping Mouse (Zapus insignis) (yellowish buff, hair rather coarse) 5. Meadow Mouse (Mucrotus pennsylvanicus) (blackish, grizzled with gray) 6. Lemming Mouse (Synaptomys coopers) (similar, but tail very short and incisors grooved) 7. Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda) (plumbeous gray, fur very soft) 8. Long-tailed Shrew (Sorex personatus) (fur similar but tinged with brown) (About three-fifths natural size) i i i 7 ’ 4 lbs 4 7 ’ 4 Ve ’ a? a ; A my Lar Red-backed Mouse Red-backed Mouse Evotomys gappert (Vigors) Called also Wood Mouse. Bog Mouse. Length. 5.60 inches. Description. Ears short, just visible above the fur, about as in the meadow mouse. Colour bright reddish chestnut with numerous black hairs interspersed, sides buffy, below whitish, suffused with buff, feet light gray, tail brown above, gray below. Colours generally darker in summer. In New Bruns- wick, Ontario, and perhaps elsewhere in the northern part of its range individuals occur which are entirely gray with no trace of the red chestnut colouring. This seems to be a purely dichromatic variety not due to age or sex. Range. Alberta to Quebec and southward to the mountains of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This little mouse is a smaller cousin of the meadow mouse, similar in build but with a longer tail and always recognized by it chestnut colour. Its molar teeth, too, are rooted like those of the false lemming mouse. They are found mainly in woodland clearings, and open bogs, living in runways near the surface, or sometimes in dense patches of grass, and building their nests under a fallen log. The lumbermen of the Alleghanies see them often scurrying away as some fallen tree frightens them from their retreats, or the removal of a pile of bark lays bare their passage ways. To them and to hunters generally these animals are known as wood mice, but the term being used with equal pro- priety in other parts of the country for the white-footed mouse it becomes ambiguous. A closely allied variety of red-backed mouse is the most abundant mammal on the Alpine summit of Mount Washington, where it occurs in all sorts of situations, among the rocks, in the moss and in the dwarf willows. The red-backed mouse of southern New Jersey (E. g. rhoadst) is an inhabitant exclusively of the cold, damp sphagnum bogs, which intersperse the sandy pine barrens. Here it lives deep down in the sphagnum, sharing the large runways wtth the meadow mouse, lem- ming mouse and diminutive shrews. In winter the moss is frequently frozen solid for several inches below the surface, which must force Iii Meadow Mouse these little rodents to live on such vegetable matter as they have stored away in their subterranean galleries. That either they or their associates are carnivorous at times is evidenced by the partially devoured specimens that the trapper often finds in his traps. Young red-backed mice lack the rusty red tints and in some of the varieties a gray form of the adult occurs, an exactly parallel case to the red and gray screech owls which are simply dichromatic without relation to sex or age. Varieties of the Red-backed Mouse 1. Red-backed Mouse. Evotomys gapperi (Vigors). Description and range as above. 2. New Jersey Red-bached Mouse. E. gapperi rhoadst Stone. Darker, with more black hairs above. Teeth heavier. Range. Cold cranberry bogs of Southern New Jersey. 3. Carolina Red-bached Mouse. E. gapperi carolinensis Merriam. Larger and darker than E. gapperi, resembling the last. Range. Higher Alleghanies, Roan Mt., N. C. to Pennsylvania. 4. Pallid Red-bached Mouse. E. gapperi ochraceous Miller. Duller, paler, and more ochraceous than E. gappert. Range. Higher slopes of the White Mountains. 5. Labrador Red-backhed Mouse. E. proteus Bangs. Larger than any of the above with longer ears. Paler than E. gapperi and like it in exhibiting a gray phase. Range. Wooded regions of Labrador. 6. Ungava Red-backed Mouse. E. ungava Bangs. Resembles E. gapperi,but has very small ears and peculiar skull. Range. Ungava, Labrador. Numerous species occur in the Northwest. Meadow Mouse Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord) Called also Field Mouse, Meadow Vole. Length. 6.50 inches. Description. Body thick and compact, legs short, ears very short. Dark brown above with a general admixture of black hairs, shading gradually into gray on the under surface. The colout of the upper parts varies considerably, some individuals being decidedly blackish, others tinged with tawny and occasional specimens quite chestnut with very few black hairs. The under surface also varies to dull buff. Ita . Kangaroo Rat (Perodipus) . Cotton Rat (Sigmodon) . Rice-field Mouse (Oryzomys) WESTERN AND SOUTHERN MICE AND RATS Photographed from skins to show relative proportions 4. Harvest Mouse (Retthrodontomys) 5. Pocket Mouse (Perognathus) 6. Scorpion Mouse (Onycomys) (About one-half natural size) Meadow Mouse Range. Southern Canada to North Carolina westward to the edge of the Plains. Replaced to the northward by four closely related varieties, and one to the southward, while there is also an island race. (See below.) With us the meadow mouse occupies much the same posi- tion that the field mouse does in England; in fact it is oftener called field mouse than meadow mouse by the farmers, who, it seems to me, are not so very wide of the mark in so classifying it. It is perfectly true that it prefers meadows to dry fields, but so too does the field mouse of the old country according to ADAH BAAN A Tops of upper and lower molar teeth of Meadow Mouse, to show ‘‘triangles,’’ enlarged. (After Muller.) many writers, and the greater dryness of our summers might well account for any difference that exists in that direction. Except in the severest drouths, in New England at least, even the driest and most sandy fields are populated by meadow mice at all times of the year, and in times of abundant. rain- fall they are, I am confident, as numerous in fields as in meadows. In summer they regularly resort to the grain lands like genuine field mice, and beyond a doubt if grain were stacked in ricks here as it is in England these would harbour as many mice and suffer an equal amount of damage. In the fields of Indian corn they do harm enough, making their round nests of stripped up husks in the heart of a shock and fattening themselves at the expense of the farmer until they are routed out at harvesting. Perhaps the most striking difference is that our species has not yet contracted the habit of spending the winter in barns; even this characteristic does not hold good farther North, as in Canada it is said to be a regular custom with it to do so. Although many of them have their homes in dry upland fields and pastures, as a rule meadow mice show a decided fond- ness for water and wet places. Those living on the banks of streams become almost aquatic, and when; pursued are as likely 112 Meadow Mouse as not to take to the water for safety; I have often seen them swimming about beneath the ice in shallow water, and in summer paddling along between the pickerel weed and rushes. I have also seen them dive and swim for short distances under water, and when they emerge, their fur after a few shakes proves its fitness for that sort of thing by coming out as fluffy as ever. Yet it frequently happens that on taking to the water for safety they only find another enemy, for pickerel often seize them from beneath at such times. Meadow mice are even abundant on the salt marshes by the sea, not only along the border where the marshes and forest meet, and by the skirts of the sand-dunes, but well out on the flat grassy stretches and by the margins of salt ponds that with each recurring moon are daily inundated by the ocean. How they manage to escape the floods at these times | know not; it would appear that they are not much in the way of taking refuge in haystacks, even when the marsh is thickly dotted with them, as it is from August until the winter is well spent. Perhaps they have learned to watch the subtle movement of the tide and are able to foretell each high run in time to remove themselves and their families to higher ground. This would certainly call for an astonishing amount of intelligence on their part, for the treacherous thing will ebb and flow harmlessly day after day and week after week, hardly wetting the roots of the thatch along the creeks; and then suddenly without warning and perhaps just because a coast storm is harassing the sea somewhere out at the edge of the gulf stream so far away that hardly a cloud shows above the sky-lines, it lifts itself and spreads out across the grass, flooding the patns of the mice and all their haunts in the space of a few hours. But the meadow mice are a wise folk and | firmly believe that they do manage to foretell the floods in most instances and camp along the borders of the marsh until the danger is over. What if some of them do occasionally get overtaken by the tide P as I have said already they are practical swimmers and there is pretty certain to be an abundance of eel grass in bunches and driftwood and rubbish of all sorts floating about to serve as rafts until the waters recede to their accustomed channels. But it is my belief that the mice very rarely allow themselves to be taken unawares in any such manner. I have spent considerable time on the marshes when they were being overflowed for the first time in weeks and cannot recall ever 1i4 Meadow Mouse having seen so much as one solitary meadow mouse swimming for his life there. Their paths are made by gnawing off the short stiff marsh grass close down to the roots leaving an even roadway something more than an inch wide. The closely ranked grass on either side bends just enough to meet overhead for a screen against the prying eyes of hawks. The grass that is cut away to make the paths disappears com- pletely, probably having been eaten by the mice, though when it comes to calculating the amount removed in the construction of the miles and miles of little roads that thread the meadows one cannot help won- dering just how much a meadow mouse is capable of consuming in the course of a season, for they do not live upon grass alone; the isles between the stems of the fox grass and black grass swarm with brown sand-hoppers and various other salt-loving creatures which I am inclined: to think furnish the principal incentive that calls the meadow mice away from the uplands; diminutive shellfish and other small fry are also eaten by them. Meadow mice inhabit alike meadows and pasture land, orchards, gardens and cornfields and, wherever the lawns are not kept too closely trimmed and the cats are not too officious, readily take up their abode about houses, especially where there are woodpiles beneath which they can find shelter. In wet ground every stranded piece of driftwood and fallen fence board is made to serve as roof for their crooked galleries and they frequently make their nests of withered grass in such places. They also dig simple burrows hardly a foot in depth, having nests at the bottom where the young mice pass the first period of their lives; these young mice soon learn to ascend the almost perpendicular shafts leading up to the sunlight and may often be seen poking their stub noses out into the air to learn what the world is like. In the winter they have their nests on the surface of the ground beneath the snow, their galleries leading off through the matted grass in all directions. I have found these nests with young ones as early as February and think it quite possible that they may be in the way of breeding throughout the winter. ! Their tunnels beneath the snow are being constantly extended, allowing them to ramble about and explore the stubble for grass seeds and tender shoots in comparative safety. They have frequent doorways admitting them to the upper air, and at night are often out scampering back and forth across the snow, leaving an 115 Meadow Mouse interesting tracery of footprints on its white surface, and are also not infrequently seen out in the winter sunshine among weeds and bushes that have remained uncovered In hard seasons they depend largely on the bark of different fruit trees and shrubs, and even appear to find the resinous bark of the ground juniper palatable, the vanishing snow in the spring frequently revealing stems and branches stripped bare of their covering beyond all possiblity of recovery. Lacking the agility of other mice they have learned to stand and fight, no matter what the odds may be, employing the same manner of defence that woodchucks do. And yet none of the regular mouse hunters appears ever to hesitate to seize one of them; inexperienced kittens, and no doubt other young animals of like appetite, often get well bitten in a first attempt, but soon discover a better method of attack. Few animals are more constantly pursued than the meadow mice; while the warm weather lasts they have to be constantly on guard against the marsh hawk and the hen hawks who diligently search the grass land in regions where they are allowed to build their nests. Crows, also, are fond of going a-mousing on foot, particularly in late summer after the grass is cut, but naturally are not nearly as successful as the hawks. As winter approaches these foes gradually take their departure, but their places are usually more than filled by the owls of various species. With the exception of the great horned owl and the arctic owl, these lovers of the twilight may be said to live on mice, the rabbits, squirrels and birds which they capture being only side issues of strokes of probably unexpected luck in a practically never-ending mouse hunt. At uncertain intervals the rough-legged or winter hawks make their appearance and bend their energies in the same direction; like the owls they seem to be forever seeking for good mousing country, and having found it are apt to gather in considerable numbers and establish themselves for an indefinite period. . As quickly, however, as the meadow mice begin noticeably to decrease in numbers or the snow becomes too deep for successfu! hunting, these mousers from northern lands move on again to look for better hunting grounds. The four-footed hunters, the foxes, cats and weasels of various sorts, are here at all seasons, and when meadow mice are abundant chase them persistently, and when they are not go hunting for other game. 126 Brewer’s Beach Mouse Varieties of the Meadow Mouse 1, Meadow Mouse. Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord.) Description and range as above. 2. Black Meadow Mouse. M. pennsylvanicus nigrans Rhoads. Much darker, black hairs predominating. Range. Coast of Virginia and North Carolina. Acadian Meadow Mouse. M. pennsylvanicus acadicus Bangs. Brighter and more strongly russet than M. pennsylvanicus. Range. Nova Scotia. 4. Labrador Meadow Mouse. M. pennsylvanicus enixus (Bangs). Similar to the meadow mouse in color but with peculiar skull, and light projecting front teeth. Range. Labrador. 5. Ungava Meadow Mouse. M. pennsylvanicus ungava Bailey. Smaller than the meadow mouse with very broad peculiar Nas skull. Range. Ungava, Northern Labrador. 6. Hudsonian Meadow Mouse. M. pennsylvanicus fontigenus (Bangs). Smaller than the meadow mouse with no tawny tints, skull narrower. Range. Quebec and Ontario, in deep forests. 7- Gull Island Mouse. M. nesophilus Bailey. Very similar externally to the meadow mouse, but with a peculiar skull. Range. Little Gull Island N. Y. Brewer’s Beach Mouse Microtus breweri (Baird) Length. 7.80 inches. Description. Larger than the meadow mouse with rather coarse fur, pale grayish yellow-brown above, ashy white below, with a tint of buff. Range. Muskeget Island, Mass. Formerly also on Adams and South Point Island two small islets south of Muskeget. This curious pallid mouse, originally derived from the same stock as the dark meadow mouse of the mainland, is a striking illustration of the effect of environment in moulding species. Not only has it changed materially in color, but its habits and mode of life have also undergone modification. The sandy soil of the island upon which it lives precludes the possibility of burrows, except perhaps in winter, and the mice pass the greater part of the year exposed to the full force 11g Rock Vole of the elements, their only protection being that furnished by fragments of driftwood and wreckage. Where the mice are abundant a labyrinth of well-beaten paths crosses the sand in every direction along which the mice run when pursued. The only burrows are short ones evidently intended to reach the soft parts of the beach grass which forms their food. They construct nests or forms, open at the top and large enough to hold one animal, which are scattered about everywhere. In autumn they lay up stores of the soft stems of the beach grass (Ammophila) for winter use. These are buried in the sand, as much as a peck being concealed in one place. (See Miller— ‘The Beach Mouse of Muskeget Island.’’) Rock Vole Microtus chrotorrhinus Miller Also called Yellow-cheeked Meadow Mouse Length. 6.60 inches. ; Description. Similar to the meadow mouse but with a yellowish or fulvous patch on each side of the face at the base of the whiskers. Range. New Brunswick and Quebec and southward to the White Mountains, Adirondacks and Catskills. Allied varieties occur in Labrador and Newfoundland. Of the habits of the rock voles but little is known. Mr. Miller found them in the White Mountains living in the crevices of rock mounds overgrown with sedges and bushes, and they seemed to have no regular runways. In New Brunswick Mr. Bangs states that they live in the deep spruce forests and appear to be diurnal in habits. Varieties of the Rock Wole 1. Rock Vole. Microtus chrotorrhinus Miller. Description and range as above. 2 2. Labrador Rock Vole. M. chrotorrhinus ravus Bangs, Similar, but light patches larger covering nearly the whole face. Range. Labrador. 3. Newfoundland Rock Vole. M. terre nove Bangs. Similar but larger with duller cheek patches. Range. Newfoundland. 118 Prairie Meadow Mouae Prairie Meadow Mouse Microtus austerus (Le Conte) Length. 6 inches. Description. Shape much as in the meadow mouse but upper parts grizzly gray, caused by a uniform mixture of grayish white and black hairs over the whole surface. No brown or chestnut tints such as characterize the meadow mouse. Below light gray or ochraceous. The fur is harsher and more bristly than any of the other members of the meadow mouse tribe. Range. Upper Mississippi Valley, southern Wisconsin and Illinois to southern Missouri and west to Kansas. The grizzly gray color and rather harsh pelage characterize these little animals which are inhabitants of the prairies of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Mr. Kennicott states that they frequent moist localities in summer and drier regions in winter. ‘‘ Their winter burrows on the uncultivated prairie are often in old ant hills or if not, the earth thrown out from them forms little hillocks. They are not very deep, seldom over six inches or a foot, but are remarkable for the numerous and complicated chambers and side passages of which they are composed. In one of these chambers, considerably enlarged, is placed the nest, formed of fine dry grass.” The first litter of young is apparently brought forth in this nest but later in the spring the mice construct similar nests on the surface of the ground. The prairie field mouse is not gregarious and when more than one pair are found in the same spot they are attracted by some particular food. In cultivated fields they frequently establish themselves in corn shocks in the same manner as the common field mouse. Pine Mouse Microtus pinetorum (Le Conte) Length. 6 inches. Description. Uniform rusty brown on the upper surface, lighter on the sides, where it passes gradually into the silvery-gray of the under parts. Young individuals are quite gray above with no reddish tints. The short, dense silky fur distinguishes the species from any other mouse. Range. Southern New York and Connecticut to Illinois and south- ward to Florida. t19 Pine Mouse This is the most distinct of all the meadow mouse tribe. So soft and silky is its fur that we think at once of the mole, the very small eyes and ears likewise resemble this animal, but the teeth at once show it to be a mouse and the rusty colour is not found in any of the mole tribe. The points that the pine mouse pos- sesses in common with the mole are evidently the results of similar habits, for this little beast is the most strictly subterranean of any of the mice. He is not content with a runway on the surface among the grass roots but must go strictly underground, and many a one have | caught in raised tunnels that I took to be the work of the moles. Much damage done to vegetables and plants in the garden which is usually attributed to the meadow mouse is, I am quite sure, really the work of this silky haired cousin, the pine mouse. Varieties of the Pine Mouse 1. Pine Mouse. Microtus pinetorum (Le Conte). Description as above, range Southern Atlantic States. 2. Northern Pine Mouse. M. pinetorum scalopsotdes Audubon and Bachman. Light in colour. Range. Southern New England and Middle States. 3. Mississippi Pine Mouse. M. pinetorum auricularis Bailey. Darker and richer in colour, with rather larger ears. Range. Lower Mississippi Valley. Round-tailed Muskrat Microtus allent (True) Also called Neo/fiber. Length. 13.60 inches. Description. This animal is essentially a very big meadow mouse with a long tail. Colour above rich rufous brown, darker on the head; beneath whitish, more or less tinged with rufous; hairs plumbeous at base; tail sparsely haired, blackish in colour. Young gray above. Range, Eastern Florida. This curious animal is common in the fresh-water ponds and marshes of interior Florida and on the salt savannahs of the Indiar. River. 120 Muskrat According to Mr. Bangs it builds a large oval nest, sometimes, like that of the muskrat, situated in the water and rising above the surface, and at other times among the mangroves or even in a hollow stump. The former nests have two openings below which communicate, when not covered by water, with underground pas-~ sage ways. While the Neofiber swims with ease it is rarely seen swimming about in the manner of the muskrat. Mr. Chapman states that their food consists of a succulent grass which grows abundantly where they are found. ‘‘To procure the younger and more tender portions Neofiber constructs a platform of the larger stalks on which he sits and feeds at leisure on the shoots growing in his vicinity; the size of the platform depends upon the abundance of the food growing near it, the harder rejected portions constantly adding to its bulk. Muskrat Fiber zibethicus Linneus Called also Musquash. Length. 24 inches. Description. Body thick-set like a very large meadow mouse, legs short, tail scaly, nearly naked and flat (compressed later- ally). Fur thick, with a woolly underfur, colour dark brown above, somewhat tinged with fulvous especially on the sides; beneath dull white, with scattered fulvous hairs, white on the throat, with white lips, and a brown spot on the chin. Range. Eastern North America, southward to Virginia and the middle Mississippi Valley. Replaced in Labrador, Newfound- land, lower Mississippi Valley and Dismal Swamp by closely related varieties. The muskrat, it seems to me, is just a little cousin of the beaver. About the only striking outward difference between the lives of the two is in the attitude each assumes toward man and his works. The beaver is wild and retiring, hating man in his destruc- tive advance along the quiet forest streams, which the beaver family had held as their own for untold centuries, and refusing to settle contentedly within sound of his works even where most protected and undisturbed. 1321 Muskrat The muskrat, on the contrary, quickly learned to profit by the settlement of the country and the consequent thinning of his natural enemies, and though hunted and trapped persistently for several months in the year, still refuses to be driven away, and may be found in colonies perfectly undisturbed by the jarring racket of a sawmill or the smoke of a factory chimney, evi- dently willing to put up with some of the nuisances of civili- zation, in order to take advantage of the ponds dammed back by man for his own personal use, and which, unlike the beaver, the muskrat has apparently never learned to make for himself. The adobe cabins of the muskrat are, however, very similar and often practically identical except in dimensions to those of the beaver. When in the late fall the long cold nights and in- creasing cloudiness foretell the coming snows and _ ice-locked streams of winter, the muskrats erect these lodges to serve both as living rooms and as air chambers to which they may bring the freshwater clams and lily roots that they dig up from the bottom when working at a distance from their burrows in the bank. If possible, they prefer to begin the work when the watei is not very high. On flat grassy reaches half overflowed they dig up sods, the size of a man’s fist, sometimes arranging them in a little circle to hold back the water while they are at work inside, sinking a shallow well down into what will be the bed of the stream when the water gets higher. At a depth of a foot or more they hollow out a sort of chamber and from this make several radiating tunnels or subways, some of which reach well up into the high bank rods away and above high-water mark if pos- sible, where the nest chamber is placed just under the turf or the protecting roots of a tree. Other tunnels extend in an op- posite direction to the deepest parts of the channel that never freeze. . The sods and mud removed are piled up about the original opening in a more or less dome-shaped heap, which usually contains two rooms, one at the bottom partly or quite submerged, the other above it and a little to one side, ventilated at the top, and with a short passage leading down to the first. In this way they are sure of a thoroughfare from their nest in the bank to the bottom of the stream, with a breathing-place 132 By W. E. Carlin sibethieus) ba wv MUSKRAP (Fiber Muskrat midway even in the coldest weather, when everywhere except in midchannel the water is hard frozen to the bottom. The upper chamber in the cabin is lined with soft grass and moss and here the owners spend much of their time in winter curled up asleep, often three or four together. Some of the smaller cabins have only the upper chamber without any down- ward passage whatever; others are large enough to contain four or five apartments at least. Many of them are built in low willow trees or on rough frameworks of sticks which the musk- rats arrange among the alders; and here they exhibit much of the constructive ability of the beavers, cutting their wood on shore in a similar manner and often towing it long distances to their building sites where they wattle it firmly between the alder stems for a foundation. Cabins so placed are generally composed largely of cattail stalks and green twigs, while those on the ground are more often built of mud and pieces of sod. The cabins are not muck used except at times of high water and in winter, though I doub\ if they are ever wholly abandoned at any season. So long as the streams remain frozen, the muskrat is practically free from care and danger. The temperature about him hardly varies a degree whatever the weather may be above the ice. He knows nothing of snowstorms or sleet or high winds while the ice holds firm, though the rushing wind-driven water may be deep over the ice in times of freshet. Down where he is at work it flows with the same gentle motions as in. summer, barely swinging the water weed and cresses as it slips between them. There is generally plenty of air to be had close up under the edge of the bank beneath the ice, and when this is not within reach, he has only to expel the air from his lungs against the undersurface of the ice when it is quickly purified by contact with the freezing water. It frequently happens that the water, falling away from the ice, leaves extended caverns the width of the stream at high water and roofed over with semitransparent ice, like ground glass, that admits only a dim half-light from above. The banks of coarse wet grass and mud show dimly along this strange underworld with the quiet unfrozen water holding its still course between them; and here the muskrats are free to come and go as they please, and swim, with their heads out of water, 123 Muskrat as in summer, breathing the air as they go. About the only ene- mies that follow them here are the minks and otters who come ostensibly to fish, vet are ever ready to seize any unwary mus- quash that comes their way. This state of things seldom lasts for any length of time, how- ever; either the ice sinks from its own weight or a thaw fills the streams again, and in either case the muskrats are forced on short rations of air once more, searching for stray bubbles along the edge of the ice—a strange economy in the winter life of a warm-blooded creature. Early in the spring they begin to look for air holes under shel- tered banks that gather the sun’s heat and reflect it back at mid- day from the bottom, and here they bring their sweet flags and lily roots in order to enjoy them in the free air. The various openings broaden and extend their boundaries, and run together until the ice is reduced to a rapidly diminishing border along each shore. While the streams are kept full by the melting snow and spring rains, the muskrats are somewhat restricted in their choice of landing places, and every projecting fence-rail and stump or leaning willow tree is taken advantage of. As the water recedes they resort to the tussocks as fast as they are uncovered, and by mid-spring generally have their familiar landing places and byways through the sedge well established. But even now, when no longer imprisoned by the ice, they swim oftener under water than on the surface, only rising from time to time to renew their breath. Their families are raised, not in their cabins but in their homes high up in the bank, two or three litters in a season, the youngest seldom more than_ half grown, before the still water is again skimmed over at night by the new ice of the coming winter. In summer, during the heat of the day, muskrats are especially fond of swimming and floating about in the shadow of old willow trees, where the water is deep and cool; sometimes you will see one swimming around in short circles as if trying to catch its own tail, and uttering a curious little whimpering cry, which, although it sounds decidedly unhappy, is, | am_ inclined to think, a note of contentment, rather than distress. It is very seldom heard except when the little animal is alone, and | have never been able to guess at its significance; 124 Muskrat ic is quite different from the call-note which they use to attract one another's attention at a distance, or their more rat-like squeaking. The signal with which one warns the rest of danger is a smart slap of the muscular tail on the water. One morning, before the light had begun to come in the east, I was sitting on the margin of a stream where there is a muskrat colony, waiting for the wild ducks that come in from the sea at daybreak. Behind me was a dark swamp of heavy old growth hem- lock where the great horned owls were calling loudly to each other. So long as they kept at that distance the muskrats ap- parently paid no heed to their hooting; but the instant that | replied to one of the owls, counterfeiting its hollow, low-toned voice as closely as I could, the nearest muskrat swung his tail in air and brought the flat of it down on the water with a whack, and it was most amusing to hear the succession of whacks that responded all along the edge of the water, farther and farther away, each followed by the hurried plunge of its owner beneath the surface. These great eagle owls are among the worst enemies that the muskrats have to fear, for they will watch patiently, hour after hour, from their ambush among the pine boughs and then suddenly circle out over the meadows without the whisper of a feather. When a fox comes nosing along the stream’s margin, at dusk, you may hear the warning slap, slap, of rubbery tails from hidden pools and nooks among the rushes, as the muskrats get wind of his presence. But the muskrat’s tail has other and more important uses; it is both rudder and propeller as_ he swims, and a most convenient third leg when he stands up- right to look about, or reach a higher twig when he is browsing in the undergrowth and, unless | am very much mistaken, it also gives him added impetus as he dives headlong into the water. All through the summer and early fall the young muskrats live contented home lives with their parents, though not exactly under their protection, except as each depends on all the rest for timely warning at the first sign of danger; paddling and wading about in the shrunken streams and ponds, or curled into little brown, furry balls, fast asleep on the edge of the bank, _ hidden by the rank growth of flags and bullrushes, among which they have well-trodden paths, leading from place to place. 125 Muskrat But in the tate Indian summer comes their Wander-Jahre, when they start out on their travels, roving and unsettled, ex- ploring strange meadows and streams, at times all alone, and again two or three families together; starting a new cabin here or a burrow when the bank looks promising, and then moving on again, leaving their work only half finished, until at last they find the place’ that suits them best and settle down for the winter, ready for months of fish-like living beneath the ice. In the spring they are hunted and trapped for their fur, shot while swimming in the swollen streams or resting on the banks; and caught in steel traps set under water at their landing places; sometimes a piece of apple, parsnip or carrot on the end of a stick a foot above the trap seems to entice them into it. A still more effective bait is the musk found on the old males at this season. It is contained in two flat, oval sacs, an inch or more in length, situated between the hind legs beneath and laid bare when the skin is stripped off. This musk, which gives the animal its name, is so powerful that professional trappers become fairly impregnated with the odour in the course of the spring trapping. The muskrat’s fur is a rich, shiny brown, with pale silky under- fur like that of the beaver, only shorter and not so dense. In its natural. state the fur 1s often made up into ‘caps, ‘etc., and sold as mink and marten. Most of it, however, is plucked; the long hair being removed and the silky underfur dyed to re- semble seal. The fur sold as ‘‘ electric seal” is really only musk- rat fur dyed. Varieties of the Muskrat 1. Muskrat. Fiber zibethicus Linneus. Description and range as above. 2. Southern Muskrat. F. zibethicus rivalicus Bangs. Smaller and dull sooty in colour, ‘‘ lacking all the beauty and lustre.” Range. Lower Mississippi Valley and Coasts of Alabama and Mississippi. 3. Dismal Swamp Muskrat. F. Zibethicus macrodon Merriam. Much darker and richer coloured than the common muskrat with larger teeth. Range. Dismal Swamp, Virginia. 4. Labrador Muskrat. F. xtbethicus aquilonius Bangs. Smaller and darker than the common muskrat. Range. — Labrador. 1296 Alleghany Weod Rat 5. Newfoundland Muskrat. . F. obscurus Bangs. Still smaller and darker, with different skull. Range. Newfoundland. AMERICAN LONG-TAILED MICE AND RATS (Subfamily Cricetine) Alleghany Wood Rat Neotoma pennsylvanica Stone Length. 16.40 inches. Description. Tail nearly as long asthe body, ears prominent. Colour plumbeous above, sprinkled with black hairs and with a yellowish-brown undertone which is purer and brighter on the sides of the body becoming almost pink on the flanks. Feet and lower surface of the body pure white. Tail sharply bicoloured, dark plumbeous above and white below, closely haired so as to obscure the scales entirely. Some summer specimens are duller coloured with much less of the buff or pinkish tinge. Range. From the Hudson highlands and northwestern New Jersey southward along the Alleghanies. Rats and mice differ only in size and it does not follow that our American wild rats are closely related to the common house rat simply because both are big. On the contrary our wood rat finds a closer relative in the white-footed mouse of which he is in many ways simply a large edition. House rats often wander into rather wild localities probably following the camps of engineers or lumbermen, and are not infrequently taken for wood rats. The latter, however, can always be told from his semi-domestic cousin by his hairy tail, softer fur and much larger ear, while his teeth are flat-topped somewhat like those of the meadow mice instead of having raised prominences of “tubercles: ’ The Alleghany wood rat inhabits wild rocky ledges along the mountains, where he can seek shelter among the loose piles of broken rocks or in the crevices and caves usually present in such localities. Here he gathers together a mass of sticks, shreds of bark leaves and 127 Cotton Rat other debris to serve for a nest, building them sometimes into a more regular dome-shaped structure. He seems to feed on whatever forage the forest offers, both vegetable and animal, and in large caves where foxes or wild cats have dragged their prey, the marks of the wood rat’s teeth are found abundantly on the bones which the more powerful beasts have left behind. Although manifestly a rat he seems to lack the offensive odour and repellent characters of the house rat, and his thick, soft fur recalls the pelage of the squirrels. The closely related Florida wood rat is said to build its nest in dense swampy thickets but probably differs little in general habits from its more northern relative. Varieties of the Wood Rat 1. Alleghany Wood Rat. Neotoma pennsylvanica Stone. Des- cription and range as above. 2. Florida Wood Rat. N. floridana (Ord). Rather smaller and plumbeous, tail more scantily haired. Skull not nearly so heavy. Range. Lower parts of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. 3. Mississippi Wood Rat. N. floridana rubida Bangs. Much brighter and decidedly reddish in colour. Range. Replaces the last in the lower Mississippi Valley and western Florida. Cotton Rat Stgmodon hispidus Say and Ord Length. 12 inches. Description. Peculiar among the long-tailed rats and mice from its superficial resemblance to the meadow mice from which, how- ever, its long tail will at once distinguish it. It has the same short legs, and short appressed ears with the aperture nearly covered by the hair, and the fur is longer and coarser than any other member of this group. The molar teeth are round in out- line and divided into triangles on top as in the meadow mice. Colour yellowish brown above thickly sprinkled with black hairs, under parts whitish. Tail only scantily haired, the scales visible. Range. Eastern North Carolina around the Gulf Coast to Louisiana Represented in Florida by closely allied varieties. 128 m= payaeizojoyd sem yeurtue oy} Soya AIZUNOD CPK1OTO) et} JO 9[ISTY} URISSMY PUL LOONA oy} pueE {Ie} Arey pue Joo} a3TYM OSHa}OwIEY OY} sutmoys (pimojoany) (e1eMod) LVAGOOM NYALSAM gseN HM Ad ra Rice-field Mouse The cotton rats are Southern animals, the common cotton rat being an inhabitant of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast from North Carolina to Louisiana. Its favourite haunts are the hedges and ditches and deserted old fields, banks of abandoned rice plantations and similar situations. Here it burrows and constructs its underground nest. Like the field mouse of the North, the cotton rat is subject to great variation in colour and the slightest difference in environment produces an appreciable difference in the appearance of the animals. Varieties of the Cotton Rat 1. Cotton Rat. Sigmodon hispidus Say and Ord. Range and description as above. 2. Chapman's Cotton Rat. S. hispidus littoralis Chapman. Very much darker, nearly black above finely mixed with gray, with no brown tints. Range. East coast of Florida, Miami northward. 3. Bangs’ Cotton Rat. S. hispidus spadicipygus Bangs. Smaller than either of the above, and browner than the latter. Range. Extreme southern tropical Florida north to Miami and Tampa. Rice-field Mouse Oryzomys palustris (Harlan) Also called Marsh Mouse, Rice Rat. Length. 9.40 inches. Description. Similar in general external appearance to a young Norway rat. Dull brownish above thickly mixed with black hairs. Tail obscurely bicoloured, scantily haired, so that the scales are visible. The best external characters distinguishing this animal from the young of the common Norway rat are the longer tail and browner colouration as well as the white fringe of hairs on the lower part of the ear and the glossy brown hairs inside. A young rat has narrow white front (incisor) teeth instead of the orange ones and the tubercles on the molars form three rows instead of two. Range. Southern New Jersey to tne Gulf States, chiefly in the coast marshes, represented in Florida by slightly different geographic varieties. 129 Harvest Mouse The rice-field mouse is an abundant inhabitant of the banks of rice fields through our Southern states; though Mr. Bangs states that it is by no means confined to such places, as it occurs in dry old fields, heavy swamps, hummocks and sometimes even on sandhills. Those which frequent the dry land burrow in the banks and con- struct subterranean nests after the manner of the cotton rat, but the marsh residents build their nest in the tall rank grass above the reach of high water. In the northern part of their range, in southern New Jersey, they frequent muskrat houses. The rice-field mouse is decidedly aquatic in habits and is a good swimmer. Varieties of the Rice-field Mouse 1. Rice-field Mouse. Oryzomys palustris (Harlan). Description and range as above. 2. Florida Marsh Mouse. O. palustris natator Chapman. Larger and much darker. Range. Florida as far south as Micco and Citrus County. 3. Bangs’ Marsh Mouse. O. palustris coloratus Bangs. Still larger and more richly coloured, decidedly reddish brown above. Range. Southern tropical Florida south of Micco. Harvest Mouse Reithrodontomys lecontii (Audubon and Bachman) Length. 5.05 inches. Description. Front (incisor) teeth grooved. Colour russet brown, darker with more black hairs on the head and middle of the back. Grayish white beneath tail, white below, dusky above, rather scantily haired, feet white. The ears are proportionately much shorter than those of the white-footed mouse. Range. Coast districts of North Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida, two allied forms occur in West Virginia and South Florida. This is the smallest mouse of the Eastern States and resembles a diminutive white-footed mouse with short ears. The grooved incisor teeth, however, are peculiar and distinguish it from any other long-tailed mouse. The harvest mouse is another resident of the Southern States and its favourite haunts according to Mr. Bangs, are grass fields, fence 130 COTTON RAT (Sigmodon hispidus litioralis) Photographed in Florida by cornering him, when he sat absolutely still, paralyzed with fear. F WESTERN BUSHY-TAILED WOOD-RAT (Ncotoma) By W..E. Carlin Bhese rats infest the Idaho camps at night. This one was drawn to ths spot where he waz pictured by using sugar as a bait. White-footed Mouse rows and old fields partly grown up with deciduous trees where the ground is covered with bunches of brown grass. Its nest is placed on the surface of the ground among the tall grass. Varieties of the Harvest Mouse 1. Harvest Mouse. Reithrodontomys lecontit (Aud. and Bach.) Description and range as above. 2. Surber’s Harvest Mouse. R. lecontit impiger Bangs. Slightly smaller and richer in colour. Range. White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., and doubtless in Virginia. 3. Dickinson’s Harvést Mouse. R. lecontit dickinsont (Rhoads). Darker and more sooty in colour. Range. Southern Florida. White-footed Mouse Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque) Also called Deer Mouse, Wood Mouse. Length. 6.80 inches. Description. Brownish fawn colour above, brightest on the sides and darkest on the back where there is a considerable sprinkling of black hairs. Below white, fur plumbeous at its base, tail dusky above, light beneath, feet white. Young plumbeous gray over the whole upper surface with no brownish or fawn tints, white below. Range. Eastern United States south of the evergreen forests and north of the Gulf States. Represented farther north, south and west by numerous related species and varieties. (See below.) The white-footed mouse is the most beautiful of all our mice, particularly in the winter, when its fur is thick and long and bright golden-fawn-colour and white in almost equal parts; the white fur, which is literally whiter than ermine, covers the entire under sur- face and reaches well up on the flanks and shoulders, the line of separation being clear-cut and as straight as is possible from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. The white-footed mouse has eyes like those of a flying squirrel, very large and prominent and perfectly black, in brilliant contrast to the surrounding fur. 131 White-footed Mouse Although the name wood mouse is not much used for this animal, it has always seemed to me more suitable than any other, for it makes its home in the woods at all times and seasons; only a comparatively small proportion of them, in this part of New England, live in the fields, tempted by the ripe corn and other provender which the woods fail to supply. Wood mouse is the name I first heard it called by, and is apparently the only one ever given it in this immediate region. Deer mouse is another name frequently given to our species, either because of its speed or the colour of its fur. The white-footed mouse does not seem to be at all particular what kind of woods it inhabits; evergreens and hardwoods, and thickets of blueberry bushes are alike suited to its taste; sometimes, indeed, a lonely old tree, standing by itself on a hillside, will harbour a family. They make their homes in the hollow roots and branches or knot holes, sometimes at a considerable height above the ground. In summer they appropriate the nests of song birds, in bushes and low trees, fitting them up for use, just as squirrels do those of hawks and crows. It appears probable, moreover, that they are not over scrupulous in the mattter of waiting for the rightful owners to depart before taking possession, as they are great lovers of fresh meat and have often been caught in the act of devouring both eggs and young birds. They are said sometimes to fashion nests of their own among the branches, beginning with a platform of loose twigs laid cross- wise for a foundation. Their lives, in fact, are pretty closely copied after those of the squirrels. Their diet is almost identical; nuts, berries, and grain being what they chiefly depend on. Like squirrels, they often find a way into granaries and farm- houses in search of food, particularly in the winter, when times are hard, for though they lay up generous stores of nuts and seeds and hibernate to a certain extent, large numbers of them are up and doing at all times in spite of the weather, gathering seeds here and there, and gleaning whatever scraps of meat may be left by the larger flesh eaters of the woods, and gnawing hungrily at any pieces of bone they may run across. The great bleached and half prostrate stalks of the garget still retain scattered berries, shrivelled and frozen to be sure, but packed with seeds which the wood mice evidently find palatable, as they make a point of gathering them every winter. They also climb for rose-hips and red alder berries and a little 132 White-footed Mouse coffee-like berry that grows abundantly everywhere in the swamps. I believe that those living in the evergreen woods are in the way of searching for hemlock and spruce seeds scattered by the pine finches and cross-bills and other northern birds in their feeding. As I have already hinted at, the winter sleep of the white-footed mouse does not stretch along unbroken from winter until spring. Many of them undoubtedly sleep for periods varying from a few days to several weeks perhaps, though it is probable they oftener contend themselves with naps of less duration, wakening two or three times a day to nibble at the nuts and seeds in their granaries, like Esquimaux on the edge of their frozen sea, content with narrow quarters and each other’s society so long as they are warm and have enough to eat. Few of them, however, are so limited for room as are the Esquimaux, whether they winter underground or in hollow trees and logs buried beneath the snow; every woodchuck’s burrow forsaken by its original owner and not yet appropriated by some other dweller of the woodland, makes a winter home for several families of wood mice who are all the better pleased if the entrance has become partially closed and blocked up by the trampling feet of cattle, and the slower yet more effective work of frost and rain and melting snow. The rest of the burrow remains open and _ un- obstructed for years, one hundred feet or more of warm, dry subway, with its chamber stuffed with soft grass for the mice to curl up in as they please. Yet these little, tender, round-bodied, white-footed mice in no way fear the cold; on the bitterest nights of winter when the thick- set stars seem close down among the tree-tops, and the frozen wind hisses through the stiff branches and the dry snow is piled high around the stems of the pines, they are still out in the wind in numbers, skipping along the snow from tree to tree. In the autumn the lindens furnish them with an abundant harvest of little round nuts which they pack away in large quantities among the roots of the trees that bear them. Living on these and their other stores which they are able to pick up from day to day, they generally manage to keep in good condition while the snow and cold weather lasts, but they are tremendous eaters and evidently find it difficult to get enough once their supplies begin to run short; at any rate they get thin and shabby during the spring months before insects and berries begin to get abundant again. 133 White-footed Mouse When their nests are beneath logs and woodpiles, they are very like those of other mice, simple balls of soft grass lined with feathers and thistledown. I have never seen the young white-footed mice before they were about half grown, at which time they are of a dull, pale slate colour. White-footed mice are largely nocturnal in their habits and as a consequence have most to fear from the night hunters, the owls, especially the little saw whet and the screech owl which are forever taking them unaware. I am not sure that I have ever seen one of these mice come out in the sunshine, but in cloudy weather you will once in a while catch a glimpse of one; only the other day I saw one dart into a hollow log as I approached. White-footed mice, like flying squirrels, are among the most gentle and unsuspicious of living things and though armed with long sharp teeth seldom offer any resistance when captured. | cannot recall ever hearing one squeak as other mice do, but they have a sharp little call of their own and at times a low chattering cry almost like the dim echo of a real squirrel’s chatter. In captivity they soon become tame and familiar and are always ready to eat whatever is offered them without hesitation. Species and Varieties of White-footed Mice A vast number of species and varieties of these mice occur in the United States, especially in the West. In the East we have besides the red mouse (described further on) three groups differing mainly in size. The Florida deer mouse (length 8.50 inches) and the oldfield mice (length 5 inches) are treated under separate heads, but the remaining medium-sized species are so closely related to the common white-footed mouse that they may as well be treated together briefly and the foregoing sketch of their habits, although based on numbers 1 and 2 of the following list, applies pretty well to all. There are three distinct species of these mice with several geographic varieties of each as follows: A. THE COMMON WHITE-FOOTED MICE Tail shorter than the head and body, without a decided terminal pencil of hairs. Underparts of body white, the gray of the hairs not perceptible unless the pelage is disturbed. 134 : re sa ee : Pe et a 4 Fas : Pair ' £ | oar at} BA? ‘7 WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE (Peromyseus leucopus) (Enlarged) By W. E. Carlin Photographed in the Bitter Root Mountains, Montana. White-footed Mouse i. White-footed Mouse. Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque). De scription and range as above. B. THe BOREAL WHITE-FOOTED MICE Tail equal to or larger than the head and body, with a con- spicuous pencil of hairs at the tip. 2. Canadian White-footed Mouse. P. canadensis Miller. Larger and much grayer than the above, and fawn-coloured indi- viduals rather rare, the longer tail and conspicuous tuft of usually whitish hairs on the end serve readily to distin- guish it. Range. Cold evergreen forests of Canada and New England, southward along the mountains. In northern New York and elsewhere this and the more southerly white-footed mouse occur together, the two being easily distinguishable. 3, Hudsonian White-footed Mouse. P. canadensis abtetorum Bangs. Always dark gray above at all ages, never show- ing the russet tints. Range. A northern form of the last replacing it in the spruce and fir forests of Quebec and Nova Scotia north- ward. 4. Dusky White-footed Mouse. P. canadensis umbrinus Miller. Smaller than P. canadensis and vellow with the dusky shad- ing on face, ears and tail deeper. Range. Replaces the above to the north of Lake Superior. 5. Cloudland White-footed Mouse. P. canadensis nubiterre (Rhoads). Smaller and darker than P. canadensis, with a distinct blackish dorsal band. Range. Replaces P. canadensis in the spruce forests of the southernmost Alleghanies. C. THE Cotton MICE Tail shorter than the head and body, without a distinct terminal pencil of hairs. Underparts with a decided gray cast owing to the greater extent of the gray bases of the hairs. These are distinctly southern as the last were northern. 6. Cotton Mouse. P. gossypinus (Le Conte). Colour similar to the white-footed mouse, but darker and less tawny, and underparts distinctly gray, as compared with the pure white of P. leucopus. Range. Lowlands of the Atlantic slope from North Carolina to Georgia, replaced South and West by allied forms. 7. Rhoads’ Cotton Mouse. P. gossypinus mississippiensis Rhoads. Paler, with dusky stripe on back and ring around the eye, less defined. 135 Florida Deer Mouse; Oldfield Mouse Range. Mississippi Valley, northward to Tennessee. This animal overlaps the range of the common _ white-footed mouse in Tennessee and both occur together, just as the latter, and the Canadian species do in the North. 8. Florida Cotton Mouse. P. gossypinus palmarius Bangs. Paler, but dusky ring around the eye, well defined. Range. Southern Florida, north to Brevard and Citrus County. g. Louisiana Cotton Mouse. P. gossypinus nigriculus Bangs. Smaller than any other cotton mouse, colours darker, with a broad blackish stripe on the back. Range. Bayou region of Louisiana. In the West there are many other white-footed mice and another allied group known as scorpion mice, Onychomys. Florida Deer Mouse Peromyscus flovidanus (Chapman) Length. 8.60 inches. Description. Ears very large, nearly naked, hind feet very large, tail relatively short, sparsely haired. Colour bright tawny above, with black hairs sprinkled over the back and head, a black ring around the eye and black spot at the base of the whiskers. Underparts pure white, extreme base of fur gray. Range. Florida peninsula. This is the largest and probably most beautiful eastern Pero- myscus and is entirely restricted to Florida. Its size, together with its very large ears, will serve to distinguish it at once. Mr. Bangs says of this species: ‘‘It lives only in the higher sandy ridges where there is plenty of black jack oak and where the bare white sand is in places covered by scattered patches of scrub palmetto. It is the characteristic small mammal of such places commonly known as ‘black jack ridges’ and I have never found it elsewhere.” Oldfield Mouse Peromyscus subgriseus (Chapman) Length. 5 inches. Description. Smaller than any of the other white-footed mice. Cinnamon brown above, very sharply contrasting with the pure snowy whit of the lower surface. 136 Oldfield Mouse Range. Central and Western Florida, represented in Georgia and elsewhere in Florida by related species and varieties and on the prairies of the upper Mississippi by the closely allied prairie mouse. (See below.) These are the smallest and shortest-tailed of our white-footed mice and with the exception of the prairie mouse of the upper Mississippi Valley they are residents of our South Atlantic States. They appear to be more animals of the open ground, as con- trasted with the last group, which are essentially inhabitants of woodland. The Florida oldfield mouse is said by Mr. Bangs to ‘‘live in fields and open places and probably before so much of its range was under cultivation was restricted to sandhills and open drier prairies of interior Florida.” The allied beach mouse, one of our most beautiful animals, ‘‘is confined entirely to the sandy beaches and adjacent sandhills of the east coast of Florida. Its life depends on the sea oats (Unzola) and it is never found where that plant does not grow. It is very abundant in favourable places and its presence can always be detected by the little foot- prints which show distinctly in the white sand around the tufts of sea oats.” (Bangs.) The dark-coloured Northern representative of this group, the prairie mouse, is quite as much an inhabitant of the open, and bears the same relationship to the common white-footed mouse of this region as does the prairie field mouse to the common field mouse. Mr. Kennicott states that the prairie mouse in the open prairie makes burrows in the ground at the extremities of which the nest is situated; but in cultivated districts often frequents corn shocks and nests therein. Related Species and Varieties of the Oldfield Mouse 1. Oldfield Mouse. Peromyscus subgriseus (Chapman). Descrip- tion and range as above. 5 2. Rhoads’ Oldfield Mouse. P. subgriseus rhoadst Bangs. Yellower than the above. Range. Western Florida (Tampa Bay). 3. Georgia Oldfield Mouse. P. subgriseus baliolus Bangs. Much darker, with a decided dark dorsal stripe, tail nearly black. Range. Sand hills of northern Georgia. 137 Ree. Mouse; House Mouse 4. Beach Mouse. P. ntvetventris (Chapman). Beautiful pale yellowish gray, rather brighter on the rump. Below snow white, hairs pure white to the roots. Range. Beaches of East Florida; Palm Beach to Mosquito Inlet. 5. Island Beach Mouse. P. phasma Bangs. Paler even than the last, cheeks and nose white. Range. Anastasia Island, Fla. 6. Prairie Mouse. P. michiganensis (Aud. and Bach). Dark- fawn colour, with very dark-blackish dorsal stripe, white beneath. Young, uniform, plumbeous. Ears rather small. Range. Prairies of Illinois, southern Wisconsin, etc. Red Mouse Peromyscus nuttall: (Harlan) Length. 7.40 inches. Description. Differs from all the other long-tailed mice in_ its bright fulvous colour above and strong fulvous suffusion below and the absence of a sharp line of separation between the colours of the upper and lower surface. No dusky patch at the base of the whiskers, and young fulvous, like the adults, not gray, as in the white-footed mice. Ears rather short. Range. Low grounds of South Atlantic States, southern Virginia to Enterprise, Florida. Although related to the white-footed mice, the red mouse is very distinct in many respects, especially in its shorter ears and dif- ferent colouration. It is not a common species. INTRODUCED RATS AND MICE (Sub-Family Murine) House Mouse Mus musculus Linnzus Length. 6.70 inches. Description. General colour gray, slightly tinted with yellcwishb- 138 *I9YPl a1ay} puno} pue ‘yovoidde sty Aq pousyYySity usqM qax00d sty oFUT S,Jayoedpoom pro UP UT SPA JSoU OU L "fo N a8uvrO YyNog ze ‘YyET Yore peydeis0z0yg (sndoonag snostuwoszd) DNNOA GNV GASNOW GaLoOd-aLIHM arom snc ‘yxy Vy Ag are House Mouse brown, Alaa on the face and shoulders, dusky on the back; below paler gray, sometimes suffused with buff. hae cosmen eam Introduced into America from the Old orld. I have in another place alluded to the house mouse as a foreigner; but, as a matter of fact, it is no more of a foreigner than are the descendants of the very first settlers in this country, English or Dutch. Its ancestors came across with the earliest of them, and while the white people were still but campers and squatters on the borders of a bewildering forest of unknown extent the youngest of these little hangers-on could already count grand-parents and great grand-parents of American birth, so that reckoning by generations there were even then American mice. Still, it would hardly be safe to conclude that all or even any considerable portion of the mice that inhabit our dwellings at present are descended from these first-comers. Immigration and emigration have proved as popular among them as with members of the human race, and every ship that crosses the Atlantic bears, among other things, its humble cargo of mice from one shore to the other, so that some of those which even now are nibbling at our pastry or the bindings of books may very possibly have spent the first part of the season in England or on the Continent, and just as possibly will be there again next year. Mice were originally natives of Southern Asia. From there they have accompanied man in his wanderings to all parts of the world, travelling, as he has travelled, in ox-teams and on the backs of donkeys, by steamship and railway; taking up their quarters wherever he does, first in log cabins with thatched roofs, and finally, in some instances, on the nineteenth floor of a steel building where generation after generation may live and die in turn without having so much as touched foot to the earth. Strangely enough the race seems to be proof against the changes wrought upon most animals by difference of environment. Specimens from the opposite sides of the globe, or from widely separated latitudes, are said to be practically indistinguishable, as if at last the species had hit upon a style of form and colouring, perfectly suited to all conditions of life. 139 House Mouse That peculiar tint popularly known as mouse colour seldom attracts attention to the wearer, and the almost hairless. tail, while undoubtedly a most useful member, is not likely to become bedraggled or in the way in places where the sort of tail carried by the average little beast would prove a nuisance or a positive danger to its owner. A mouse’s tail, although it looks naked, will be found on closer inspection to be covered with short hairs, just long enough to turn aside the moisture instead of retaining it. Try to imagine what the tail of a squirrel or weasel would look like after having been dragged across cream and butter and the various other substances with which the average house mouse endeavours to surround itself ; its owner would quickly be reduced to amputating the bothersome member in sheer desperation. Mice it is believed even use their tails for skimming the cream from pans of milk, when they are unable to reach it in any other way. Neither is the tail of a mouse much source of danger to the little beast as might be supposed. It certainly has the appearance of a most convenient handle for cats or other enemies to seize upon, but the skin which covers it, like that of a squirrel is but loosely attached, and slips off readily enough to permit the escape of many a desperate mouse. It is not at all uncommon to find mice that have lost the skin from their tails in this manner. The process must necessarily be a decidedly painful one, but the wound heals in course of time and the mouse is still possessed of a tail, even if it is bereft of most of its former suppleness. One would suppose that a tail which could easily be broken clear off like those of some reptiles would be an improvement. Of all mice the ones that dwell high up in the mows of old-style barns, interest me most. They are, perhaps, as little mischievous as any of their kind; and as comfortably situated, except as regards their water supply. Mice | believe are compelled to drink frequently; and except when violent storms drive rain or snow through the cracks of the building, those living in the hay must evidently go to the trouble of descending to the ground as often as they are thirsty. Their homes are in the mortises of the timber wherever the oak tenons were badly fitted or have shrunk away, leaving cosy little pockets in the very heart of the beam, dry and warm with a passage of suitable size leading down to them, as if ex- 149 House Mouse pressly designed to keep a family of mice comfortable and safe. When hungry they have only to penetrate the hay which is piled high about them, and explore the fragrant labyrinths between the stems of herd-grass and clover for seeds and dried field- strawberries, and the dessicated bodies of crickets and grass~ hoppers pitched up with the hay when it was unloaded from the rack the summer before. I have often in mid-winter come across dried strawberries in the hay, which still possessed every bit of their June sweetness; what a feast one of those would make for a foraging mouse in mid-winter! Then there are the scaffolds of corn fodder, containing hidden treasures in the shape of whole ears overlooked in the husking, any one of which would be enough to support a family of mice for weeks. Beyond a doubt the lives of these mice of the barn are rendered more interesting and worth while, by the simple possibility of discovering some such treasure as this at any moment. Compare this with the life of those living in the granaries, encompassed on all sides by bins of ripe corn, and with never a change of diet except what is supplied by the capture of stray spiders and bugs. Sometimes at night the mice of the hay mows descend to the floor and join those which have their holes in the out- of-the-way corners of the barn, in their search for meat scattered about the bins where stock was fed. Many of them, instead of living in the mortises of the tim- ber, make round nests of grass and shredded corn leaves and husks in the recesses of the hay or in the middle of a bundle of corn fodder. These, though safe enough at first, are sooner or later sure to be routed out by the farmer, and may well consider them- selves fortunate if they are without helpless families at the time. Being less exposed to the weather and changes of tempera- ture than are creatures living out-of-doors, mice breed at all times and seasons; and almost any time during the winter, the fret- ful youngsters may be heard squeaking in their nests, resentful perhaps of the discipline brought to bear upon them by their parents. At first they are hardly larger than blue-bottle flies, pink, wrinkled and transparent like shrimps; it is no exaggeration to say that any substance on which they rest may be seen through their diminutive bodies. 141 House Mouse Mice are notorious for their versatility in selecting their rest- ing places, empty coffee pots and bottles being often used by them in this manner. Almost anything in fact that has an entrance smaller than the cavity inside. Once exploring the cellar of an old farmhouse | came across something made of tin, which I was told was an old-fashioned sausage filler. It was bottle-shaped and open at both ends, and into the larger one was thrust a piece of wood which just fitted it. The remaining space was occupied by a mouse’s nest of rags and scraps of paper, the funnel-shaped opening serving as an entrance, through which the mother mouse had _ probably come and gone hundreds of times in ministering to the needs of her family. The nest was abandoned when | found it, but if any one had chanced to pick it up when the little lodgers were at home and attempted to put it to its legitimate use he would very probably have been a good deal surprised at the result. In most old houses there are mice living in the walls between the wainscoting and the plaster, their runways usually permitting them to go literally all over the house in compara- tive safety. On stormy winter nights particularly they may be heard scurrying excitedly about from place to place with no apparent cause. Too often they penetrate to those forbidden parts of the house where food is kept and make themselves decidedly troublesome, until their fate in the guise of pussy, or the trap, overtakes them. But it is my opinion that in cold weather at least most of them live almost wholly upon insect food, flies, spiders, wasps and the like, that have packed themselves away snugly for the winter in secret crannies between the boards, sometimes hundreds of them closely huddled together. Norway Rat Mus norvegicus Erxleben Called also Common Rat, Brown Rat. Length. 18 inches. Description. Heavily built with thick head and moderate ears, tail medium, always shorter than the head and _ body. 142 — “ = 3 S a = < ~ ey VY Ay <q 4 Zi eS) QQ N =) e aa] (ea op) P © se) By C. William Beebe COMMON, OR NORWAY RAT (Mus norvegicus) Norway Rat Colour yellowish-brown thickly interspersed with long black hairs, grayer on the sides and grayish-white below, feet whitish. Tail very sparsely haired with the scales very con- spicuous, ears dull brown. Young dull gray with no brown tints. Range. Cosmopolitan. Introduced into America from Europe. In many ways mice are our benefactors in a degree not often suspected, perhaps even enough to offset much of the trouble they cause by stealing. With rats it seems to be different. These troublesome brutes may be useful in a way as scavengers, but the good that they do in this way or in any other, is constantly overshadowed by the damage wrought by them in hundred ways, and they are probably as little beloved by man as any beast that lives. They appear to be on an entirely different scale from mice. It is not altogether a matter of size, a brown rat reduced to a mouse’s dimensions would still be coarse and rough and unattractive. They copy in a general way the colour and proportions of a mouse, because the lives of the two are really very much alike; living as they do in the character of humble dependents on man’s production, in obscure out-of-the-way corners, where a dust-coloured coat has proved most useful. But the fur of a full-grown rat is at all seasons harsh and lifeless; the expression of its eyes is apt to be dull and_hate- ful, in fact, there is hardly an attractive feature that rats may be said to possess. It would be useless to deny that rats are extremely intelli- gent, and careful witnesses have always given them credit for looking after any helpless member of their family, old or young. For my part I have seen but little to like or admire about them, though I am not sensible of any personal antipathy toward them, such as many feel for both rats and mice. The black and white rats which make such amusing pets belong to a different species than the common brown rat. I believe that they are varieties of the old black rat, a gentler and much more likable race that is said to have been partly driven out of its native land by the other, and at pres- ent only to be found in numbers in such scattered corners of the world as the brown rats have not yet found. I! have never 143 Black Rat come across any undoubted specimens of the black rat living in a wild state; they are said to have been fairly common _ here before the brown rats followed them across the Atlantic. Young brown rats until they are nearly grown have rather soft slate-coloured fur, sometimes quite dark, and this together with their slighter build causes them to be sometimes mistaken for the black rat. Black Rat Mus vattus Linnzus Length. 15 inches. Description. More slender, with more pointed head, larger ears, and tail always as long or longer than the head and body. Colour glossy bluish-black above, dark-gray beneath, a few white hairs interspersed. Ears lighter coloured, nearly naked, feet pale-brownish, tail sparsely haired, scales distinct. Range. Cosmopolitan. Introduced into America from the Old World, but everywhere disappearing before the advance of the Norway rat, so that it is now rare, with the exception of a well-marked variety—the roof rat—which is well estab- lished in the Southern States. The black rat, a much less aggressive and less troublesome animal, was brought to America long before the Norway rat, but upon the introduction of the latter it rapidly disappeared, being apparently quite unable to cope with it, so that we now find the black rat only at rare intervals in remote quarters where its more powerful cousin has not yet established itself. The history of this animal in America is but a repetition of its experience elsewhere and in England to-day it is as scarce as in America. A variety of the black rat, native of Egypt and adjacent countries, has been introduced into our Southern States where it finds the climate congenial and where it is known as the roof rat. Owing probably to a difference in habits, it does not come into such direct competition with the Norway rat and succeeds in holding its own. Varieties of the Black Rat 1. Black Rat. Mus rattus Linneus. Description as above. 144 Canadian Beaver 2. Roof Rat. Mus rattus alexandrinus (Geoffroy). Colours above brown and gray, below pure vellowish-white. Shape, ears and tail exactly as in the black rat. Range. In America, South Atlantic States. BEAVERS (Family Castoride) The beavers are our largest gnawing animals. They are heavily built and thoroughly adapted for an aquatic life, with their wonderful broad, flat, naked tail and webbed hind feet. Both fore and hind feet are four toed, but the second toe of the hind foot is peculiar in having two claws. In the structure of its skeleton the beaver differs from all the preceding ‘‘mouse-like” families and agrees with the squirrels and marmots in having the two bones which form the lower leg separate and not fused solidly together. We find in many groups of animals one or more members adapted for life in the water and the beaver is the aquatic re- presentative of the squirrel tribe, just as the muskrat is of the mouse family and the otter of the weasel tribe. Canadian Beaver Castor canadensts Kuhl Length. 44 inches. Description. Tail and feet as described above, ears short. Body thick and heavy, closely covered with fur. Colour dark bay or blackish-brown, hairs tipped with chestnut, becoming brighter on the head, sides of the neck and rump; ears black, feet, legs and underparts seal-brown. Range. Northeastern North America, now nearly extinct within the United States, represented to the South and West by slightly different geographic races. Beavers are creatures with whose life history everyone is sup- posed to be more or less familiar; the outstanding features of theit lives having been written and read over and over again by each 5 Canadian Beaver following generation. Yet they are still objects of the most in- tense interest to all who desire to read Nature either at first or second hand. They are so very like some humble, primitive race of people of peaceful disposition and few wants, industrious and practical in all their affairs, and apparently depending more upon reason and less upon instinct than do the majority of the forest folk. For while it is unquestionably true that almost all of the higher wild animals must use their reasoning powers to think out the various problems of their daily lives, it is equally certain that instinct is of even greater importance to them. Just as the lone trapper or hunter, if lacking instinct similar to theirs, and forced to rely wholly upon reason to wrest a living from Nature, would be pretty certain to starve before the winter was half gone. Everyone knows that it is the beavers’ custom to dam up small streams and build their thatched and mud-plastered log cabins on-the margins of the ponds thus made. But the beavers themselves have been so trapped and persecuted as to have been fairly driven to the most remote and secluded parts of the wilder- ness, with men still hot on their trail, and closing in doggedly with murderous determination when with each recurring autumn the beaver fur again becomes thick and silky to tempt their greed. At present the scattered families of this inoffensive fugitive race scarcely dare to raise a lodge of any sort, much less any- thing so conspicuous as a dam, and so are compelled to hide in secret burrows beneath the bank, like their cousins of the Old World, who have suffered from man’s unwelcome presence for so much longer a period. In most parts of this country beavers are supposed to have the protection of the law; but along the hidden rivers, where the few survivors lurk, law is little more than a byword, and just as long as beaver skins are allowed to be bought and sold, any attempt to protect them is bound to prove futile. If England and America could agree to make the possession o! bezver skins illegal anywhere within their boundaries, and punishable by a heavy fine or imprisonment, good results would certainly ‘ollow; for the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company would then be obliged to refuse to handle beaver skins, and the trappers to leave them alone. Even then it would probably be a number of years be- 146 a : — mee CANADIAN BEAVER (Castor canadensis) 5s a Canadian Beaver fore the beavers would venture within sound of civilization of lose even a little of their well-founded terror of man. When a pair of beavers, after having been driven in desper- ation from place to place, finally come upon some hidden forest brook where they think that perhaps at last men will permit them to settle and be happy in their own way for a_ few years, their first act is to decide upon a_ suitable location for their pond. Then they go to work felling trees for the dam. In order to cut down a tree they gnaw deep parallel grooves around the trunk and then rip out the wood left between these grooves in large chips, their broad teeth splitting them out like a carpen- ter’s chisel. Other grooves are then cut still deeper into the tree and the chips split out from between them as before, and so the work goes on until the tree trembles and lurches slightly in the direction of the deepest cut, hangs canting in air for an instant while the last tough fibres hold and then, slowly at first, swings over and comes smashing to the ground. Although beavers usually gnaw all around a tree, it has fre- quently been stated on the very best authority, that it is their rule to cut deepest next the water in order that the trunk may fall in that direction and so lessen the distance it will have to be dragged. But others claim that they gnaw in equally on all sides and let the tree fall where it will, or lodge hopelessly tangled among its neighbours. All of which may only go to show that beavers, like other animals, vary in intelligence, and while some still fell their trees haphazard, others have learned something of the woodsman’s craft of cutting. Judging from my own experience | should suppose that hardly one tree in ten would be likely to come to the ground if gnawed off carelessly without forethought, though I believe that trees growing near a stream do usually have a tendency to lean a little towards the water. When the tree is down the beavers go to work trimming off the branches and cutting the trunk into suitable lengths to be dragged down to the water. ‘The dam is made of these short logs and trunks wattled together and filled in with stones and earth, the whole cunningly bent against the current to withstand the pressure of the water. 147 Canadian Beaver It is frequently reinforced by other dams just below, that back up the water against the first and relieve it of a part of the pressure. As the water rises the beavers watch the shores carefully and every depression in the bank likely to lead the water off to one side is promptly dammed and the pond at last brought to the desired level. During the summer they live an easy and care free life along the banks like muskrats, feeding on lily roots and_ bark and green twigs generally; but with the coming on of autumn their recreation ends and they go back to work once more, re- pairing the dam against the coming of the fall rains and erect- ing their winter cabin at the edge of the water. As_ before stated the cabin is very similar to that of the muskrat, being roughly built of sticks and brush, and finally plastered outside with sods just before the pond freezes over. Knowing that long before the ice melts in the spring the natural food supply in the pond is likely to be exhausted, these prudent creatures lay in an ample supply of birch, poplar and cotton wood for the winter. The trees, which at times are only to be found at consider- able distances from the water, are felled and cut into con- venient lengths and dragged down to the pond along paths cleared through the undergrowth for the purpose. At times the beavers even find it worth their while to dig channels in low swampy ground, and along these they float their wood out into the pond. It is stacked in a loose pile near the cabin, the ends of the sticks buried in the mud so that they may not be floated off when the water risesto fill the pond. After the pond is full and its surface frozen over in the winter, the beavers cut strips off the bark under the ice when other food falls short ; But all winter long they are still hunting for fresh supplies, following the pond’s winding margin beneath the ice and ex- ploring the various inlets and little brooks that reach back into the woods, digging up roots from the bottom and gnawing the bark from bushes and trees surrounded by water when the pond is filled. And so the winter passes quietly with them, allowing them only an occasional obscure glimpse of the sun when the wind chances to sweep a portion of the clear ice above them free from snow. 148 by A. R. Dugmore BEAVER LODGES AND A DAM. Canadian Beaver I fancy that toward the end of winter they must get just a little impatient and watch eagerly for the first sign of open water at the edge of the ice; knowing that it is only a ques- tion of time before their whole pond shall be free once more, and they may splash and paddle in the shallow margin to their hearts’ content with the spring sun warm on their backs, and their lungs filled with fresh living wind from the woods. As their family increases in size they enlarge their cabin each fall to accommodate the new members, or else construct new lodges along the shore, until, if undiscovered by the trapper, they have established a busy and contented little settlement, for they are a social folk and fond of one another's company, with the ex- ception of certain ill-natured old bachelors who refuse to associate with the rest but live apart in burrows of their own digging. Just as among the muskrats you will find a solitary in- dividual here and there making its lone mud-hut at the head of any little meadow brook, and apparently avoiding the rest of its kind as much as possible; the chief difference being that these recluse muskrats are generally females—at least most of those that have come under my own observations have been; while among beavers the hermits are almost always old males as already stated. When in the course of years the beavers’ colony gets so large that the matter of getting food for the whole in the im- mediate vicinity of the pond begins to look doubtful, the youngest generation usually starts off with the purpose of found- ing a new colony. The trappers say that they always start off in pairs accom- panied by the old ones; the time chosen for the pilgrimage is in the early part of the fall while the streams are still low and food abundant. The little party explores together every promising stream and watercourse, until a suitable location is discovered for the new pond, when they all set to work, old and young together, and it is not until the dam is completed and the new cabin raised with a good supply of green wood beside it, that the old beavers go back to their own pond, to attend to the regular fall work of repairing the old dam and cabin and cutting and hauling their winter's wood down to the water, and then settle down to the dull routine and humdrum life of a beaver’s winter. 149 Sewellels Varieties of the Beaver 1. Canadian Beaver. Castor canadensis Kuhl. Description and range as above. 2. Carolinian Beaver. C. canadensis carolinensis Rhoads. Some- what lighter in colour; larger in size with a decidedly broader tail. Range. Southern and lower Middle States. Now almost extinct, though still found in parts of North Carolina. Two other races occur in the northwest coast region and in the Rocky Mountains. SEWELLELS (Family Aplodontide) The sewellels are peculiarly isolated animals, having no close affinity with any other existing rodents, but constituting one of those interesting ‘‘connecting links’ that have been preserved from some former geological age. They are allied to the squirrel and marmot tribe and come perhaps nearer to the beaver than anything else in their skeletal peculiarities. They have extremely broad flat skulls, thick clumsy bodies, with practically no neck, short ears and very short tail. Sewellel Aplodontia rufa (Rafinesque) Also called Mountain Beaver. Length. 12 inches. Description. Body thick-set, legs short, tail very short, projecting but slightly beyond the fur. Above reddish-brown, with scat- tered black hairs, grayish below, tail black. Range. Cascade Mountains, eastern Washington and Oregon. Several allied species or varieties are found in other parts of these States and in Northern California. These curious animals are found only in the limited area above described. They are more or less aquatic in habits, living in te) ame pee ies , a i re - a a 2 7 : r 3 . Ms tery tk WV Aq ‘oofr yy stAdog (xouom sAmoj4y) MOWANA ALIAHL Ad SMONHOGOOM AO AlVd V a1ouwrsn(y Woodchuck burrows, near some stream of water, and feeding at dusk or early in the morning on vegetable material of various kinds. SQUIRRELS AND MARMOTS (family Sciuride) The squirrels and their allies include some of our handsomest and best-known rodents. They are active, intelligent animals, as a rule, with large bright eyes, bushy tails and strong muscular legs. Some species, as the marmots, are burrowers, though they spend much of their time out in the sunlight about the mouths of their holes, while others, comprising the most typical squirrels, are climbers par excellence, scaling the tree trunks or traversing the most slender branches with equal agility. This arboreal habit reaches its highest specialization in the flying squirrel which launches itself forth in its parachute-like flight from tree to tree, despising the support of slender branches upon which the other squirrels still rely. When one watches the rapid passage of the red squirrel through the trees and his sudden leaps from bough to bough, the evolution of the flying squirreb can easily be un- derstood. Woodchuck Arctomys monax (Linnzus) Also called Ground Hog, Maryland Marmot. Length. 24 inches. Description, Heavy and thick-set, with short legs and_ rather short brushy tail. Colour grizzly or yellowish-gray varied with black and rusty, underparts rusty, feet black. Range. New York and southern New England to Georgia and North Dakota, represented northward by an allied variety, others occur westward. In every part of the world where the winters are sufficiently severe, there is pretty sure to be found a certain proportion of the wild animals that manage to do away with the most un- Ub Woodchuck pleasant part of the year, as far as they are concerned at least, by tucking themselves up in some _ out-of-the-way corner and sleeping or dozing or hibernating the time away, each according to its own particular taste, until spring comes round again. And certainly no more satisfactory method could be devised for spend- ing the winter, either as regards economy or personal comfort. It is probably to this habit that the dormouse of the Old World owes its reputation of being the most ridiculously sleepy and drowsy little beast in the universe, though I fancy that a good many of the animals on this side of the Atlantic could give him points on the matter of taking protracted naps, as might naturally be expected in a climate where the temperature is liable to vary over one hundred degrees in the course of a twelvemonth. The dormouse, it would seem, does not depend entirely on its faculty for sleeping, to while away the long winter hours, but in the autumn puts by a store of hazelnuts and when- ever the weather turns warmer for a few days, though it is in the very depth of the winter, he wakes up for a luncheon and a breath of fresh air, and then turns in again for another nap, so keeping a general idea of the weather as the mild English winter wears itself away. But how much does the oldest woodchuck know of the New England winter? He can only realize that there are spring, summer and autumn, and then spring again, with only occasional flurries of snow and severe frost occurring at long intervals, perhaps a dozen times in the course of his life. If, as seems probable, the woodchuck really sleeps all winter long, then his waking hours occupy an extremely small portion of his life, for during the entire summer he spends the greater part of his time in his hole, and as he never takes his meals there, it is hard to imagine how he can occupy himself at such times except in sleeping. He is, perhaps, the least industrious animal in existence except when engaged in digging his hole, when he works away at a tremendous rate until it is finished; but once it is completed, he seldom attempts to enlarge or remodel it in any way, but spends his days in luxurious ease, coming out to get his breakfast soon after sunrise, while the dew is still on the grass, at which time I fancy he makes his most substantial meal, though he may occasionally be seen feeding at any time of day. At noon he is pretty sure to make his appearance above 152 ‘Woodchuck ground for luncheon, but apparently spends more time then in sunning himself than in eating. Late in the afternoon he again shows himself, and feeds until nearly sunset, when he descends into his burrow for the night. It is not often that he is obliged to go many steps from his doorway in order to fill himself, and by autumn he has usually reached a perfectly ludicrous state of obesity. There are usually several openings to the burrow, connected by well-beaten paths; similar paths radiate off into the grass in all directions, from one clump of clover to the next, and only too often to the bean patch or garden where it pleases him to eat out the tender inside of several cabbage heads in a single night. Beans he strips of leaves, pods and everything, and he is not averse to ears of corn and young pumpkin vines; in fact, there are few things raised in an ordinary vegetable garden which he does not occasionally exhibit a taste for. He is also fond of sweet apples and fruits of various kinds, fre- quently making his home in the orchard for the purpose of en- joying them. When the grass is tall enough he likes to move about in the various paths he has made, nibbling here and there, as suits his pleasure, and sitting bolt upright from time to time to look about him. His attitude toward his enemies is apt to be one of obstinate defiance. Other wild animals of his size, almost without exception, prefer, when in the proximity of houses, to remain in hiding during the day, only venturing out under cover of darkness. But the woodchuck often digs his hole within a few rods of a farmhouse and swaggers boldly about the garden at midday helping himself to whatever appeals most strongly to his appetite. When pursued he scrambles in frantic haste for his burrow, his black heels twinkling in the sunshine as he goes, but on reaching safety he is likely to turn about and thrust out his nose to chuckle defiance at his pursuers. If cornered, he is always ready to fight anything or anybody, and a dog lacking experience in such matters is likely to get the worst of it, for a woodchuck’s incisors are weapons not to be despised. If their den is dug out, the woodchucks often manage to escape by burrowing off through the soil, after the manner of moles, filling up the holes behind them as they move along, and evi- dently not coming to the surface until sufficient time has elapsed to ensure their safety, though how they manage to avoid suffo- cation in the meantime is a question difficult to answer. They 1493 “Woodchuck are often killed with shotguns, though this is no easy matter to accomplish; for though not a_ difficult animal to approach, the skin of an old one is pretty nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and the bones of the head are so solid that it requires the heaviest kind of shot and a gun that carries close and hard at ordinary shooting range to injure him. The majority of those that are killed are caught in steel traps at the mouth of their burrows. As soon as the woodchuck ferls the grip of the trap on his foot, he settles back into his den and pulls with an amount of strength that is simply surprising, and often secures his liberty. If unable to free himself in this manner, he usually digs away the earth and blocks up the entrance of the hole with himself inside, and the owner of the trap is obliged to dislodge him as best he may. This is hard enough when the victim is a woodchuck, but if, as often happens, it proves to be a skunk, the result is truly disastrous. If left in the trap for any length of time, the woodchuck frequently re- leases himself by biting off his foot just below the jaws of the trap, but is less extravagant and wasteful in this matter than the muskrat, who not uncommonly leaves half an inch or more of leg sticking up above the trap, apparently gnawing it off wher- ever it is easiest and most convenient. This is the woodchuck of the fields and cultivated lands. Many woodchucks, however, prefer to dwell in the pastures, where the grass is shorter and sweeter and they are less likely to arouse the ire of the owner of the land. Here they are ob- liged to wander farther afield in order to satisfy their appetites, but are generally in good condition for all that, and never appear to have any trouble in laying on a sufficient supply of fat dur- ing the summer to carry them over the cold season. In the pastures they are fond of sunning themselves on top of old stumps and smooth bowlders, the colour of their fur serving to make them comparatively inconspicuous when so engaged. Then there is the woodchuck of the forest and woodlands, who really deserves the name of woodchuck, as it was in all probability first applied to the species by the early settlers— chuck or chucky, I believe, being a term frequently used in De- vonshire and other English farming districts to designate little pigs, who were sometimes spoken of as barnyard chuckies; so that woodchuck might very properly be translated as little pig 154 Aa (s E. Carlin By W. WOODCHUCK (Arctomys monax) _— & 7 = . . ie x e Woodchuck of the woods—not an altogether inappropriate title, at least as regards disposition. The real woodchuck of the woods, instead of spending his days in the sunlit fields or open hard-wood groves and orchards, digs his hole among the rocks and ledges, beneath the roots of great hemlocks and pines, where the sun hardly penetrates and the decaying tree trunks are crossed and tumbled against each other overhead, supported and held in position by those that are still standing. Here he scrambles about among the underbrush and fallen branches, subsisting on berries and whatever green stuff is to be had in its season, probably feeding on edible mushrooms when they are to be obtained, like the partridges and squirrels who are his associates. He may frequently be seen of a summer afternoon stretched in the sun along some _ half prostrate log, evidently glad to take advantage of whatever of the sun’s rays manage to penetrate among the shadows of his retreat. Enjoying as he does comparative immunity from the attacks of men and dogs, and having at the present day very few natural enemies to avoid, he should, and in all probability often does, live out his allotted time; and it is no uncommon thing to find the bones of these animals in hollow logs and similar places, showing no signs of having suffered a violent death. A careful observer of Nature once told me that he had once seen a wood- chuck, apparently very old and feeble, laboriously digging a shal- low hole in the soft earth, and that on returning, some hours later, he had discovered him curled up at the bottom of the hole quite dead, undoubtedly having died of old age after digging his own grave and crawling into it. He believed this to be a regular custom with them, and said that he had met with a number of people who asserted the same thing. In one respect the forest woodchuck does not have so easy a time of it as his brethren who abide in the open country, seldom attaining to such an extreme condition of corpulency, and in consequence being compelled to awake and crawl out of bed much earlier in the spring, often making his appearance when the snow is still several feet deep. Such unfortunates are obliged to worry along as best they can until warm weather, seeking out the spots of bare earth beneath the evergreens and gnawing ravenously at the bark of trees or anything that can possibly be made to answer as a substitute for food. They are soon piti- 155 Woodchuck fully thin and so active as hardly to be recognized by one familiar only with well-fed summer specimens. Woodchucks are seldom seen in the open pasture until the snow has about disappeared and the turf begins to feel soft under foot, with green grass and clover starting up in sheltered places, while those of the cultivated grass lands are still later about showing themselves, so that it would certainly seem that the duration of their winter nap depended largely on the food supply of the preceding summer. Still it is just possible that all the woodchucks return to the woods to ‘‘den in,” in order to obtain a more even temperature than would be possible in the open ground. Instances of woodchucks having been unearthed in a state of hibernation in the winter are common enough, but whether in the woods or in the open appears uncertain. In the summer the rambler often meets little woodchucks only a few weeks old, wandering about the fields alone and unprotected, having been driven from their homes by their hard- hearted parents as soon as they were able to shift for them- selves. These little waifs are not apt to show any alarm on being approached, commonly settling back on their haunches and attempting to bite anything that comes within reach, or else charging savagely at the intruder, with little husky, gurgling cries of anger. An old woodchuck will occasionally attack the person who threatens him, sometimes it would seem even when he is not cornered or confined in any way. But this is nothing to the perfectly reckless courage with which the youngster en- ters into the combat, as if he felt perfectly sure that he were going to have an easy thing of it. As soon, however, as he is quite convinced that you are not going to retreat, and that he is hardly likely to be able to dispose of you to his satisfaction, he starts off on a gallop, but as yet without any _ especial symptoms of fear, though if you persist in heading him off, he at last comes to realize that he is entirely at your mercy, and a wholly difterent expression comes into his eyes, he begins to tremble and shiver all over, and finally gives up all attempts to fight or run away, simply crouching in the grass in abject terror. I once obtained possession of a little woodchuck that had been brought home uninjured by a dog. If I remember rightly, the original price of the animal was thirteen cents, with a 156 ERY es eee be , ey PRAIRIE DOGS (Cynomys ludovicianus) By ee pears a fin Woodchuck much damaged fish line and hook thrown in. He was much too ‘young to eat solid food, so we fed him on milk with a bottle and rubber nipple. When being fed he always sat up perfectly straight, grasping the rubber firmly between his little black hands, which always looked as if clothed in close-fitting black gloves, so sharply was the line drawn between the black of his paws and the brown fur on his wrists and shoulders. When_ nearly satisfied he would grip it so tightly that none of the milk could escape and, taking it from his mouth, turn away his head for a few seconds of breathing space and then fall to again. He grew rapidly on this diet, and soon developed a liking for green things generally, especially caraway blossoms. As_ these grew far out of his reach, often three or four feet from the ground, he found it necessary in order to get at them to sit up beside the stem and, grasping it in his paws, bend it over towards him, pulling it down hand over hand until he had reached the umbel shaped cluster of flower, every particle of which he ate, allowing the stalk to spring back into place when he had finished. Strangly enough, he never troubled the vegetables in the garden in any way, although allowed to wander about the place at his own discretion. He managed to get along fairly well with the cats, though there was not much affection on either side. Whenever he saw one of them drinking milk from a saucer, he liked to come up softly from behind and nip its heels, and then scuttle off to some place of concealment in time to escape punishment. He often persisted in this amuse- ment until the cats retired in disgust, whereupon he would pro- ceed to help himself to the milk they had left. If he felt sleepy, he would sit upright, letting his head hang down until his nose almost reached his hind feet, and then drop over on one side, rolled up into a perfect ball. Late in the season, he began to make extensive tunnels about the doorsteps and underneath the paths, the caving in of which was the cause of several mis- haps to various members of the family. Although perfectly familiar, he was never affectionate, and towards the close of summer he left us for his native heath; and the rest of his history is hidden in obscurity, though it is safe to assume that he lived to grow up and eventually developed all the selfish and bearlike traits characteristic of his family. 1§7 W oodchuck Only the other day an instance occurred which would seem to indicate that the woodchuck of the woods retires to his den much later in the season than his cousin of the fields, who is seldom seen abroad much after the first of September. On the first of November I came across a hollow ash tree, prostrate above a little brook in a swamp not far from my home, and noticed that some creature or other had been carrying dead grass into it quite recently. I fixed a trap in the hollow and the next day found a woodchuck held captive there, a typical wood- chuck of the forest, as lean and active as a squirrel, with soft white-tipped fur almost as thick as a coon’s. When I released him, he refused to run, but showed fight pluckily enough for several minutes, and then unexpectedly bolted by me into his hollow log, down which | could hear him scrambling to his nest, which appeared to be situated at the end of the cavity where the tree forked into several branches, for on breaking off a small branch here I could see that the interior was filled with new dried grass and leaves. Undoubtedly he intended spending the winter there, and I imagine would find it quite as com- fortable as the usual underground retreat, if not driven out by the rising waters in time of thaw. I recall once seeing what looked like a woodchuck’s track in the snow about the last of November. The animal that made it had been wandering about the woods, prying into every stump and hollow log, perhaps in search of a bed; but that was years ago, and I am not even certain that it was a woodchuck’s track at all. This year | have again seen a woodchuck out in Novem- ber, a tawny old fellow whose den is near the top of a little hillock beside a meadow, the same that I saw a fox trying to unearth last April. As I crossed the meadow | could see him sitting in his doorway in the dim sunlight of Indian summer, perhaps saying goodby to his shadow and the sun and the clouds until spring returns; the turf beside his path was yet green and moist, and from deep among the grass-roots the dreamy notes of crickets sounded miles away, and seemed always on the point of ceas- ing forever. A few days before I saw this same woodchuck carrying home wild apples from a tree several rods from his hole; it may be that last summer’s drouth, which was unusually severe in 158 By H. W. Nash @ BN a S S Q 2 jaa) 4 = a Ay © a a jaa Ay op) ZB ~~ ca oH 2 Photographed in Colorade Wy Fn ae ¥ Fee ere bas - Woodchuck these parts, made it impossible for him to get fat enough to risk turning in at the regular time for woodchucks to retire about the first of October. In the days of the uncleared forest before the white-men came, woodchucks, it is safe to assume, had a much longer list of enemies than now. — Bears, wolves, lynxes and panthers, undoubt- edly all preyed on them as occasion afforded, and it is hardly likely that the Indian hunter felt himself demeaned by stooping to the chase of such humble quarry. At present the only native animal that the woodchucks have much to fear from is the fox. From this determined hunter they are not always safe, even in the depths of their burrows. In the winter when the ground is unfrozen, foxes will even dig them out of their winter quarters and kill them in their sleep. They dig them out in warm weather as well, though I fail to see how they ever manage to catch up with so accomplished a burrower in an underground race. But the little woodchucks | expect are in much greater danger, for while they are still no bigger than rats, they begin to spend sunny hours exploring the grass around the burrow, or sprawled out asleep on the hot earth piled in front of it. At such times hen-hawks or cooper’s hawks might easily pick them up, but I do not remember having seen evidence that they often do. For awhile the old woodchucks make a point of look- ing out for their safety, but in a most indifferent sort of way, quite unlike the zealous watchfulness displayed by most wild animals. The female has in fact on occasions been said to push her offspring out of the hole one at a time in order to purchase her own safety by distracting the attention of a dog that was trying to dig her out. Varieties of the Woodchuck 1. Woodchuch. Arctomys monax (Linneus). Description and range as above. 2. Northern Woodchuck. A. monax canadensis (Erxleben). Darker than the above, black and brown _ predominating, hairs more variegated with white, cheeks gray. Range. Boreal regions north of the preceding. 3. Labrador Woodchuckh. A. monax ignavus Bangs. Similar to the last externally. Range. Labrador. ™59 Prairie Dog Prairie Dog Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord) Called also Marmot. Length. 15 inches. Description. Resembles the spermophiles but the ears are ver‘ short, and the tail very short and flat, colour brownis above varied with gray and black hairs, soiled white below, tail black toward the end. Range. Western Texas and Kansas to the base of the Rocky Mountains north to Montana. Allied varieties occur in Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. The prairie dog is perhaps the most characteristic animal of the higher drier prairies of the West. He reminds one of a miniature woodchuck, though much more gregarious and more active. Prairie Dogs associate in colonies or ‘‘ dog towns,” some- times many miles in extent, where their burrows and mounds of ex- cavated earth form a conspicuous feature of the landscape. Speaking of the occurrence of the prairie dog in Texas Dr. Kennerly says : ‘‘This interesting little animal never fails to attract the attention of every traveller on the Western prairies; and on approach to one of their settlements, after long and dreary marches, is always hailed with delight as a pleasant change from the monotony of lifeless scenes to one of cheerful activity and motion. Such occasions never fail to excite a certain degree of pleasure in every one as he watches the motions of these curious creatures as they at first assemble in numbers as if in grave consultation in regard to the intrusion of strangers upon their quiet domain, and, upon the too near approach of apparent danger, suddenly the assembly is dispersed, each one, retiring to his re- spective home and standing upon the edge of his den, utters his peculiar bark, as if in defiance, and then every one disappears sud- denly and every voice is hushed when a single gun is dis- charged.” Prairie dogs feed upon grass and such other plants as furnish satisfactory fodder, and frequently strip the ground bare through- out the extent of their towns. In all the older accounts of the prairie dog we inevitably find associated with him the rattlesnake and the burrowing owl, the three forming the theme for many a ‘Happy Family”’ story. 160 SAY’S SPERMOPHILE (Spermophilus lateralis) By W. E. Carlia Photographed in the Bitter Root Mountains after mueh patient baiting and watching." Striped Spermophile Apart from inhabiting the same region, and the fact that young prairie dogs form an acceptable article of diet for both the other members of the triumvirate, they have little to do with one another. The owls dig holes for themselves, though they may not be averse to appropriating a prairie dog’s burrow, just as their relatives of the woodland will use an old flicker’s hole or a crow’s nest. The rattlesnake, too, will no doubt take refuge in a burrow of either of the others, though to the discomfiture of the rightful owner and the probable loss of its offspring. The stories of the peaceful cohabitation of the beast, bird and reptile are, however, the result of a lively imagination. Striped Spermophile Spermophilus tridecemlineatus (Mitchell) Also called Striped Gopher. Length. 10 inches. Description. Back striped with six buff bands and seven wider brown bands, each of the latter containing a row of small white spots; middle bands running from the top of the head to the tail, others shorter; lower parts dull buff; tail rather short, flat and rather bushy. Range. Plains of the Saskatchewan; south to Texas and east to southern Wisconsin and Michigan, nearly the whole of Illinois, northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio. The spermophiles, closely allied to the chipmunks, form as it were the connecting link between the squirrels and the marmots. They are restricted to the prairie regions of the West, where there are a number of species, two of which cross the Mississippi. The best known and most widely distributed form is the striped spermophile or ‘‘striped gopher” as it is also called. Vernon Bailey in his report upon these animals says: ‘‘ Throughout the prairies of the Mississippi Valley the little striped spermophile is a familar object as it darts through the grass to its hole or is seen standing upright on its hind feet, straight. and motionless as a stick. With its short ears, smoothly rounded head, and the fore- feet drooping at its sides, there is no point about its outline to catch the eye, and at a little distance it is impossible to dis- 161 #ranklin’s Spermophile tinguish it from old picket pin or fence stake. Standing thus the animal will often allow one to approach within a few yards, then quickly dropping on all fours it utters a shrill chatter and dives into a hole close by. Remain quiet for a few minutes and _ its head reappears at the entrance of the hole and the little black eyes peer at you curiously. Walk away from the place and it will soon come out and, standing up again, watch you as long as you are in within sight, uttering an occasional note of alarm or warning to its friends.” The burrows vary in length, some being short and appar- ently only used for shelter, while others are long with the nest at the end where the young are born, or where the animals hibernate; other adjoining cavities are used for storehouses and a large supply of grain is generally put away before winter sets in. Franklin’s Spermophile Spermophilus franklini (Sabine) Also called Gray Gopher. Length. 14.80 inches. Description. Hair coarse and harsh, gray above suffused with yellowish brown and hairs banded with black; below paler gray with a white throat, tail clear gray. Range. Saskatchewan south to eastern Kansas and through northern and middle Illinois and southern Wisconsin to the western border of Indiana. Although there are numerous spermophiles in the West, this and the preceding are the only ones to range east of the Mississippi. Peculiar interest attaches to this animal from the fact that it was introduced into the sandy barrens of southern New Jersey where it seemed to flourish for a time, though it did not spread to any extent. Chipmunk Tamias striatus (Linnzus) Called also Ground Hackhee, Ground Squirrel, Striped Squtrrel. Length. 9.50 inches. Description. Head brown, back preety gray, rump and hind legs rufous chestnut; a narrow black stripe on the middle of the back 162 WHITE-TAILED SPERMOPHILE (Spermophilus leurcurus) By Dane Coolidge YOUNG OF COLUMBIA SPERMOPHILE (Spermophilus columbianus) By W. E. Carlin Chipmunk from the ears to the rufous of the rump,and on each side two black stripes with a light buff stripe between them. Sides of the body buffy mixed with black-tipped hairs, below white. Tail grizzly gray above with black tips to the hairs, below rufous edged with black. Range. Southern New York to Georgia. Northward the closely related northern hackee (7. striatus lysterz ) takes its place. It is much brighter and lighter in colour, bright rusty red instead of chestnut above. Numerous other species are found in the West. Ground squirrels are unquestionably most intelligent creatures, lov- ing the sunlight and hot weather and open groves of hardwoods where the turf is cropped close by cattle. Here they dig their burrows in such a manner as to avoid attracting the attention of their enemies and at the same time allowing them an unobstructed outlook on all sides from their doorways. Choosing an open and lawn-like spot they sink a _perpen- dicular tunnel down several feet; after which the burrow is carried along horizontally for a few yards and then ascends a trifle to the chamber, which is perhaps a foot in height and breadth and nearly twice as long and carpeted with soft grass. A back stairway ascends to the surface by a somewhat shorter route at a considerable distance from the other opening. Now the amount of earth removed must necessarily be con- siderable, yet the grass about the entrance shows no signs of it, and it requires a sharp eye to detect the