LIBRARY
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

VASCO M. TANNER

Collection on
THE Zoological Sciences

t>£AN MUSEUM u6ftAH^

■ y

Mammals of Utah

By CLAUDE T. BARNES

Member American Society of Mammalogists, Member Biological
Society of Washington, Associate Member American Ornithologists'
Union, Co-author "Western Natural Resources," "Forest Groves and
Canyon Streams," Member of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, etc.

Library of
Vasco M. Tanner
St.Gecrge

\£22 Utah, MO

Bulletin of the

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

SALT LAKE CITY
UTAH

Inland Printing Company, Kaysville, Utah

BEAN MutibUW Lfedh.'^^^t

PROVO, UTAH

FOREWORD

Three things have induced the author to enter upon
the preparation of a work on the mammals of Utah: the
unavailable nature of the scattered data on our wild ani-
mals; the constantly increasing public interest in nature
generally ; and the pleasurableness of the undertaking as a
personal diversion. The aim has been to furnish the reader
a dependable list of our mammals with accurate descriptions
and brief notes on their habits and economic status.

Every available source of information has been util-
ized; and, in some instances, even where statements reflect
the observations of the author, the work has been strength-
ened by the citation of numerous well-known authorities.
Of course even there the author has met divergent views:
the tendency, on the one side, to name new races based on
slight variations and the disinclination, on the other side, to
recognize forms indeterminable in the living animal. Every
effort has been made, however, to cover the ground com-
pletely.

Occasionally some incident has lightened the work of
investigation, such as, for instance, the report of the pres-
ence of "ibex," "chamois," and mountain goats, or the
alarming views of some informants on the habits of sev-
eral larger mammals.

It is astonishing the number of gaps yet to be bridged
in our knowledge of the habits of our mammals generally ;
and it is the sincere hope of the author that this work will
to some degree encourage those observations afield which
alone can overcome such difficulties.

In the preparation of the synonomy the works of Dr.
Elliot have been chiefly relied upon; and the descriptions
have, as far as possible, been taken from original sources.

The author is deeply indebted to Dr. William T. Horna-
day of New York City for reading the manuscript and for
the making of many helpful suggestions ; to Dr. C. Hart
Merriam of Washington, D. C, for furnishing otherwise un-
available publications from his private library and for set-
tling several knotty problems; to Dr. N. Miller of the
University of Utah for his kindly counsel in many im-
portant matters ; and to Dr. John A. Widtsoe, former Presi-
dent of the University of Utah, without whose encourage-
ment the work would never have been undertaken.

CLAUDE T. BARNES,

Salt Lake City, Utah

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2014

https://archive.org/details/niammalsofutahOObarn

INTRODUCTION

Constituting the highest class of vertebrates, the Mam-
malia includes man and all other warm-blooded animals that
nourish their young with milk. They are (except the
monotremes) viviparous ; that is, their young are brought
forth alive as distinguished from existence as eggs. In all
except the cetaceans the skin is covered with hair, which is
the outgrowth of the epidermis only and contains neither
blood vessels nor nerves. The class possesses, moreover,
these noticeable characters: "mammary glands; the man-
dible articulating directly with the squamosal; the ankle
joint when present crurotarsal; a chain of small separate
ear bones; brain with four optic lobes; a muscular dia-
phragm separating the heart and lungs from the abdominal
cavity; a left aortic arch only; and red blood corpuscles
without nuclei (except in the fetus)."

Some mammals such as whales, manatees and seals, are
aquatic ; the bats are aerial ; but most are either terrestrial
or arboreal. A semi-arid, mountainous, inland region like
Utah is favorable to only the terrestrial and aerial forms.

As probably the highest aim of knowledge is the wel-
fare of mankind, the ascertainment of the economic status
of our various wild mammals must at all times be of pri-
mary importance. As closely related species and even
genera may have almost identical food habits, it is deemed
advisable to give here a resume under broad groups of the
habits of our mammals as they benefit or injure man.

Of the Ungulata, or hoofed quadrupeds, elk, mule, deer,
moose, mountain sheep and prong-horned antelopes, subsist
on vegetation gathered in wild, uncultivated regions; and
hence are in no sense harmful. When under protective laws
that happy time is reached when the white-tailed deer or
even the elk become so tame and numerous that they do eat
cultivated crops to some extent (a condition which actually
obtains in some of the most thickly populated Eastern
states) prompt reimbursement can and should be made by
the state legislature. The food value of these animals
is so high that the most casual observer should not only
appreciate it but also actively engage in encouraging the
increase of animals valuable both as food and as a con-
stant stimulus to that physical recreation which the aver-
age American too truly needs. It is certain that if the lead-
ership of such men as Dr. William T. Hornaday (the
world renowned champion . of wild life) is followed and

6

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Utah's present incomparably favorable laws are kept m
force, this state will one time have such a plentiful supply of
game that every boy will have occasion to thank the wisdom
of his forefathers. It is a matter of great satisfaction to
the author, that the 1919 session of the Utah Legislature
had to consider a claim for crop-damage done by elk, the
first bill of its kind and a direct result of recent protective
legislation.

Of the Glires or rodents, our two chickarees, being true
squirrels, live on nuts and seeds, only occasionally doing mis-
chief. Our nine chipmunks eat berries, insects and seeds;
and though in some instances they do some damage to grain
fields, they probably on the whole do more good than harm.
The dozen species of ground squirrels or spermophiles
(Citellus) found within the state, destroy many grasshop-
pers, beetles, flies, larvae, and the buds of harmful plants;
but wherever numerous they so ravage the grain fields
that they undoubtedly should be exterminated. Though
the prairie dogs usually occupy ground so barren as to be
useless to the farmer, their fondness for green grasses,
cabbages, cantelopes and such produce sometimes results in
encroachment upon and damage to near-by cultivated
tracts. Woodchucks, living chiefly on such grass and
clovers as grow in their high mountain retreats, are more
interesting than mischievous.

Beavers subsist principally on the bark of such trees as
the aspen, with the addition in summer of many kinds of
vegetation, berries, pond-lily roots and marsh grass, and
where numerous they occasionally damage the agriculturist
and horticulturist. Ample provision is, however, made in
the Utah law for the depletion of their numbers in certain
instances, under the supervision of the Game Commis-
sioner; hence, when the great value of their pelts is con-
sidered they well merit the general protection they receive.
Eventually they will become a valuable asset to the state,
as they have increased surprisingly the past few years.

So numerous have rats become about the homes of Salt
Lake City that the situation is alarming to those who know
of the plagues that these disease-carrying pests have caused
elsewhere. Immediate steps must be taken towards their
extermination. Every householder should at once write to
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, for
a copy of Farmers' Bulletin 369, "How to Destroy Rats."
Furthermore those people who understand the use of ferrets
should as soon as possible introduce these animals, which
are very efficient rat-killers.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

7

Most of the mice of the genus Onychomys eat seeds and
grass only when hungry and their customary bill of fare
includes such a wide variety of insects that they well de-
serve the name "grasshopper mice." The field mice (Pero-
myscus) include nuts, seeds and berries as well as a few
insects in their fare, being not especially destructive; but
the harvest mice are distinctly harmful.

The wood rats (Neotoma) make vast stores of grass,
fruit, bulbs, bark, seeds, nuts and fungi; but being mostly
in rocky mountainous regions they in the aggregate do little
appreciable damage, though instances are not wanting of
their having girdled shrubs or stolen stored grain.

The various voles of the genus Microtus, feeding on
grass, bark, seeds, grain and some insects, are very destruc-
tive when numerous. In these days it is incomprehensible
that an apparently intelligent farmer will one day curse
the mice and the ground squirrels for their depredations
upon him, and the next shoot every hawk, badger, and
snake he comes upon.

The vegetable matter that muskrats take is of no
consequence, and their burrows seldom interfere with irri-
gation. Appreciating the value of their pelts, some far-
seeing men of Utah will soon engage in "muskrat farming,'^
which in the East is a profitable employment.

Nothing can be said in favor of the pocket gophers,
whose burrows are the constant torment of a region that
exists by reason of irrigation. The kangaroo rats (Perodi-
pus) nibble the young sprouts of growing grain, and conse-
quently are a nuisance.

Porcupines subsist on the bark of such trees as the
aspen, jackpine, and hemlock, for which habit they deserve
no censure ; similarly the pikas or chief hares are far up in
the mountains away from man.

Cottontails live on the tid bits of mountain vegetation,
being valuable food for man; and jack rabbits while un-
doubtedly destructive should so far as practicable be killed
for their fur and for food rather than poisoned.

Of the Felidae, mountain lions, ruthlessly killing deer,
colts, calves and sheep, should everywhere be destroyed;
and though the lynx and wild cats devour some prairie dogs
and other rodents, they steal many lambs and are therefore
harmful.

Wolves kill so many calves, and coyotes so many sheep
that their extermination is a desideratum, though there is
a noticeable increase of rabbits, rats and mice whenever
coyotes are systematically hunted. In fact, the presence of
coyotes is encouraged by the horticulturists of California.

8

MAMMALS OF UTAH

The pelts of the various species of foxes in Utah are so
valuable that these animals must be protected if full advan-
tage is to be taken of the state's resources.

So picturesque is the grizzly bear and so rapidly is it
becoming extinct that a sentiment is growing in its favor.
It eats berries, fruits, ground squirrels, gophers, pea vines,
roots, cattle, deer, honey, pigs and carrion ; but the author
endorses a movement to enact a law permitting its destruc-
tion only at certain seasons. It should be borne in mind
that the mountains are for the whole people, not for cer-
tain classes; and no one doubts that the presence of wild
animals adds greatly to the allurement of the woods. Black
bears, really timid and harmless, likewise merit some con-
sideration.

The value of the fur of raccoons counterbalances their
destructiveness. On the other hand the habits of the badger,
which constantly preys on ground squirrels, are so uni-
formly beneficial that this animal should be given the high-
est protection possible, with heavy penalties for its destruc-
tion.

Similarly the few hens' eggs taken by skunks are more
than compensated by the many grasshoppers, crickets, in-
sects, mice, rats, ground squirrels, frogs and rabbits which
they destroy.

Weasels are harmful; but martens, minks and otters
have such valuable furs that they should be given every
encouragement.

Shrews and bats, being insect-eaters, merit the kind-
liest consideration, though the former are so small and
the latter so retiring that seldom are either disturbed. One
can only imagine what the mosquitoes would be if bats were
to fly in the daytime and the many thoughtless owners of
guns were permitted to wreak destruction upon them.

So little is known about many of our mammals that an
unlimited field of research presents itself to the naturalist.
When one thinks of such topics as: tracks, speed, envir-
onment, migrations, numbers, food, storage, means of com-
munication, voice, sociability, senses, hibernation, amuse-
ments, mating, sanitation, training of the young, vice,
crime, enemies, diseases, commensalism, age, and economic
status, as applied to any one species, the lack of present
knowledge becomes at once apparent and regrettable. It is
only by the collation of the accurately made notes of many
careful observers that the complete history of our mammals
will ever be even approached.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 2.— Records of the Moose (ALCES AMERICANUS Jardine) in Utah.
From data assembled by Claude T. Barnes.

Order UNGULATA: Hoofed
Quadrupeds

Family CERVIDAE
Subfamily CERVINAE

MOOSE

ALCES AMERICANUS (Jard.)

Cervus alces Linn. Syst, Nat., 1, 1758, p. 66.

Alces americanus Jard., Nat. Libr., Mamm., 1835, p. 125.

Alces machlis Ogilby, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1836, p. 135.

Alces palmatus Gray, List. Mamm. Brit, Mus., 1843, p. 182.

Cervus lobatus Agass., Proc. Post. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1846, p. 188.

Alces muswa Rich., Zool. of Herald, Mamm., 1852, p. 66.

Description — Muzzle very broad, produced, covered
with hair; except a small, moist naked spot in front of the
nostrils. Neck short and thick; hair thick and brittle;
throat rather maned in both sexes; hind legs have tuft of
hair rather above the middle of the metatarsus ; the males
have palmate horns. The nose cavity in the skull is very
large, reaching behind to a line over the front of the
grinders; the intermaxillaries are very long, but do not
reach to the nasal. The nasals are very short. The moose
is the largest of the American deer, quite equalling a horse
in bulk. (Baird.) A fine bull moose in prime condition
was black on forelegs, breast, shoulders, flanks, hams, sha-
ding into rusty brown on withers, back, neck, and head;
palest on nose and lips and shaded into white on the belly ;
the insides of the ears also are whitish, the legs from the
knee to the ground are a pale warm gray or Caribou color.
The appearance of the animal at a distance is that of a black
beast, with brown head and white stockings. The coat fades
toward springtime. (Seton.)

Distribution— Many years ago John Burton of Kays-
ville, Utah, killed a moose on the mountain slope between
Kaysville and Farmington, Davis County. According to
Gerald Thorne of Logan, Utah, an occasional moose is seen
in the Bear Lake region, Utah.

A man by the name of Barclay over a dozen years ago
killed a moose at the head of Spanish Fork canyon. Herbert
Cromar, who was then game commissioner, seized the head

MAMMALS OF UTAH

11

in Salt Lake City for prosecution; but it was found that
Utah had no law on the killing of moose. The head was
mounted by Mr. F. A. Wrathall of Salt Lake City, who in-
forms me that it was a three-year-old male with very small
horns and it had been shot with a shotgun. The head was
finally sold through the Mehesy Company. As there is
absolutely no doubt about the record, it marks probably the
extreme southwestern limit for this species.

Habits — Unlike most animals the moose lives winter and
summer in the same locality — sometimes in a swamp only
three miles wide and ten miles long, or, again in a strip of
mountainside. The winter yard may cover less than fifty
acres; however, the moose is probably the widest ranger
of the non-migratory ruminants.

The antlers, which are shed each year, are not fully pal-
mated until the third set appears; but, thereafter, unlike
those of the elk, they show little indication of the age of
their possessor.

Both cows and bulls have the "bell," which is merely a
long dewlap of skin, round, flat, or forked, hanging down
eight or ten inches from the neck or the jaw. An experi-
enced woodsman can readily detect the presence of moose
by their "fumet" or dung bells, their sharp cow-like tracks,
their trails deliberately taken across bogs, their wallows,
their horn scrapings, and their nippings of twigs at great
heights. Frequently they chisel the bark of trees at a
height of from seven to ten feet, though they never com-
pletely girdle a tree.

Even after a bull moose has dropped his horns his
forefeet are sufficiently dangerous bayonets to keep off a
wolf or a bear. When the snow becomes three or four feet
deep, the family makes regular trails from tree to tree ; and
if frightened away or compelled by hunger to seek other
fields, they march in single file, parents in the lead. Jays
flutter about their backs all winter, eating parasites from
their backs and in turn warning their hosts of danger.

In the spring the bulls meander off alone to grow their
horns and the cows retreat to have their calves, one each
the first time, afterwards two or even three. Deer hide
their fawns for weeks, but the moose calf follows its
mother about when only three or four days old.

In the summer the families reassemble and become
semi-aquatic, swimming constantly in the ponds. The bull's
antlers begin to peel in July and by September they are
ready for the annual battles.

The moose is the only deer that is strictly monogamous.
So faithful is he in fact that he will not answer to a calling

>

12 MAMMALS OF UTAH

cow other than his mate. Only the eagle excells him in
this respect, for death alone can sever its marriage tie.

The enemies of the moose are man, deer-flies, ticks, dis-
ease, deep snow, wolves, bears and mountain lions.

Dr. Hornaday informs me that it is strange that a
forest-loving, brush-eating, water-frequenting animal like
the moose ever could elect to settle down in Utah, but that
the presence of a limited number in this state is fairly
beyond question.

WAPITI: AMERICAN ELK

CERVUS CANADENSIS (Erxleben)

Cervus elephus canadensis ErxL, Syst. Regn. Anim., 1, 1777,
p. 305.

Cervus strongyloceros Schreb., Saugth., pi. ccxLvll, 1792.
Cervus wapiti Barton, Am. Phil. Trans., 1869, p. 70.
Cervus canadensis Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub.
11, 1901, p. 34, Zool. Ser.

Description — Body color of young bull, brownish gray,
a little darker along the spine, and becoming dark chestnut
or brown on head, neck and legs, and reddish brown or
sienna color on breast and belly. The inside and lower back
part of ears, a patch around the eye, a spot on each side of
the lower lip, a spot under the jaw, are very pale brown or
dull brownish white ; the disk or rump patch is very large, of
a pale, buffy white, and continued above the tail, which is of
the same color ; bordering this patch in front, on each ham,
is a brownish black stripe that nearly fades out towards the
spine where it joins its fellow. (Seton.)

At the State Capitol building. Salt Lake City, is a fine
mounted male specimen, with pelage almost white. The
males frequently thus appear in spring, the summer colors
being richer and darker. Seton says that the word ''wapiti*'
is supposed to come from the Algonkin roots wab, white,
and atik, deer. The females in the summer resemble the
males in color; and the fawns are yellowish spotted with
white.

Dr. William T. Hornaday measured a fine bull in the
New York Zoological Park, finding its height at the shoul-
ders 561/2 inches, length of head, body and tail, 86% inches.
Its live weight was 706 pounds.

MAMMALS OF UTAH 13

Map No. 3.— Range of Wapiti or Elk (CERVUS CANADENSIS Erxl).
(Shaded area) approximate distribution in 1500; (crossed circles) actual
present records of wild animals. Founded on E. T. Seton's map and rec-
ords by Claude T. Barnes.

14

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Distribution— Formerly the elk was spread over the
greater part of the United States, though early records for
Utah are unavailable. The only elk indigenous to Utah are
seven head known to be on the Uinta division of the Wa-
satch national forest. Two large bulls have ranged near
Kamas for some time.

Elk have been imported from Wyoming with great suc-
cess. B. E. Mattsson of Ephraim informs me that there
are fifty elk on the Manti forest. At first they were placed
in Cottonwood canyon near Orangeville ; but some of them
have drifted to the Fishlake district. Theodore Seeholser
of Logan, Utah, says that there are six wild elk far back
in the mountains above Logan, in Blacksmith Fork canyon ;
it is possible that they are indigenous. C. A. Mattsson of
Salina says that the elk imported from Wyoming to the
Fishlake district have now increased to 58 head. A. W.
Jensen of Provo estimates that there are 145 elk in the
Uinta National forest. L. F. Kneipp, District Forester,
Ogden, Utah, says that during 1917 the transplanted elk in
Utah increased from a total of 299 to 327.

Professor Marcus E. Jones reports to me that in 1888
the elk were so numerous on LaMott's Peak in Uinta that
they tramped down the grass in the subalpine basin. The
next year he heard bull elk fighting near Hayden's Fork of
the Bear river.

Habits — When at the beginning of the last century,
millions of buffaloes and elk reigned supreme over the plains
and mountainous regions of North America, few hunters
could foresee the extermination of the vast herds of wild
game about them, in the lifetime of their children. To-
day, however, there are few if any wild buffaloes, and the
homesteader is gradually crowding the few remaining bands
of elk out of their winter feeding grounds. A tragedy of
nature is being enacted with the curtain almost ready to
fall on the last scene.

The haven of the elks, today, is Yellowstone Park in
summer and Jackson's Hole, Wyoming, in winter. In the
spring, the cows graze along the rich, low valleys, while
the bulls seek the higher plateaus. The calves, usually one
though sometimes two or even three to a cow, are born in
May ; and for the first few days the mother hides her little
ones in bushes. There each lies as if a log, its unwinking
bright eyes taking in every movement of the intruder but
its tiny body remaining perfectly still. Its big white spots
resemble patches of sunlight midst dark shade and thus are
a protection, not a disclosure.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

15

After a few days the calf wanders with its mother,
who, however, still hides it in times of danger; but by-
October the youngster is able to forage for itself.

Elk wallows are accredited to the bulls, who enjoy the
mud as much as a hog ; but a dozen or more, cows and bulls,
have been seen wallowing together, apparently for mere
amusement. At times elk have been seen in a sort of circle
dance, twenty or more of them running around in a ring
for a half hour or more with no object, perhaps, except
the fun of the game.

The crowning glory of the stag is his antlers, which are
grown afresh each summer. Each March they break off at
the base an inch or more above the skull. Within three
days afterward the raw spots have become velvety bulbs of
skin gorged with blood; and in two weeks are soft antlers
several inches high, hot with blood vessels. In four months
the antlers are once more complete, and the velvet begins to
peel off.

It is said that any injury, any sickness, even a cold,
affects the size of the antlers; in fact the horns each year
reflect the vicissitudes of their owner while growing them.
Each season the horns increase in size until the sixth, when
they decline year after year until the end. The fallen
horns are eaten by mice, gophers, rats and porcupines.

With antlers perfect and bodies trim the bulls descend
from the mountains in the autumn and as soon as the cows
are sighted the world-famous bugling begins. Each big
bull takes his cow, seeks an eminence and trumpets his de-
fiance to the world. The tones resemble somewhat the bray
of a jackass.

Young bulls do not bugle but whistle. Hence if in an-
swer to a young bull's note, there comes through the glen
the clear bugle call of an old stag, the young bull imme-
diately pushes his cows along with his horns until he has
them hidden from the enemy.

WESTERN WHITE-TAILED DEER

ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS MACROURUS (Rafinesque)

Cervus macrourus Rafin., Amer. Month. Mag., 1817, p. 436.
Cervus leucurus Dougl., Zool. Journ., iv, 1829, p. 330.
Odocoileus americanus macrourus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm.
F. C. M. Pub., 11, 1901, p. 39.

Description — The prevailing color of this species in the
fall of the year is a yellowish gray, clouded and waved with
black caused by the dusky tips of the hairs. This color is

16

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 4.— Distribution of Western white-tailed deer (ODOCOILEUS VIR-
GINIANUS MACROURUS Rafinesque) in Utah. (Whole area) distri-
bution in 1850. (Cross line area) present range. Based on E. T. Seton's
map and records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

17

purest and grayest on the neck (nearly the same all
round) and head, the long hairs on the top of the head only
being more fulvous. The chin and throat are dull white,
the former without any band, but merely a dusky spot on
the side ; there is also a suffusion of dusky on the sides and
on the top of the upper jaw just behind the muzzle, but no
continuous ring. The ears are uniformly brownish gray,
lined and pointed somewhat with dusky, the concavity and
the basal portion behind being white. The under part of
the neck, from the white patch beneath the head to be-
tween the forelegs is of the same brownish gray, with a
slight sooty tinge posteriorly; the rest of the under parts
to the tail are opaque white. The under part of the tail
and the region around the anus are also white, but ap-
parently less conspicuously so than in C. virginianus. The
upper surface of the tail is of a uniform reddish brown,
brighter than elsewhere on the body. The legs are of a
nearly uniform pale brownish yellow, rather lighter inter-
nally. (Baird.) In the summer pelage the upper parts
and the outside of the limbs are reddish brown. The fawns
are spotted. Warren gives the total length as 90 inches
with tail vertebrae, 12 inches.

Distribution — The former range of this deer extended
from Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas westward into the
Rocky mountains, and from Alberta to northern Mexico.
Seton says that its range has recently been extended into
Utah, where irrigation favors it. William M. Anderson of
Vernal, Utah, says that there are probably 175 to 200 head
in that part of the state, most of them being found along
the Green River canyon in places that are entirely shut off
from game hunters on account of the topography of the
country.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall informs me that while he has never
mounted a white-tailed deer head that he knew to have come
from Utah, he has nevertheless, been told by many old set-
tlers that in the very earliest pioneer days this species was
quite common in the swamp that was formed by City Creek
on the site of the present Bonneville Park within the city
limits of Salt Lake City. The same was true of a swamp
at the mouth of Mill Creek Canyon, Salt Lake county.

Habits — In summer white- tails are usually solitary or
wander through the forest in parties of two or three. In
winter, where the snowfall is heavy, they gather in par-
ties, sometimes of considerable size, in dense deciduous
growth, where food is plentiful. There they remain through-
out the season, forming a **yard" by keeping a network of

18

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 5.— Range of Mule deer in Utah: (Crossed line area) range of
ODOCOILEUS HEMIONUS Raf.; (straight line area) range of ODO-'
COILEUS HEMIONUS CANUS Merriam. Based on E. T. Seton's mapi
and records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

19

hard beaten paths open through the snow in order to reach
the browse afforded by the bushes and trees. (Nelson.)

Being protected just now by the unexcelled game laws
of Utah, these animals have become remarkably tame in
some localities. They prefer the dense brush, while the
mule deer seeks the open tracts of the hillsides.

MULE DEER

ODONTOCOELUS HEMIONUS (Rafinesque)

Cervus hemicnus Rafin., Amer. Month. Mag., 1, 1817, p. 436.
Cervus auritus Ward., Desc. Etats. Unis. v, 1820, p. 540.
Cervus macrotis Say, Narr. Long's Exped. Rocky Mts., ii,
1823, p. 88.

Odocoileus hemionus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.

Pub., 11, 1901, p. 42, Zool. Ser.
Odontocoelus hemionus Elliot, Mamm. Mid. Amer. and W.

Indies, F. C. M. Pub., iv, p. 76, 1904.

Description — Winter or blue coat.— In general a warm
brownish, gray, thickly peppered with black tips and rings
on the individual hairs. The inside of legs, the belly, and
patch on buttocks are white. The face and throat are
dull white with a large black patch on the forehead and a
black bar around the chin. The tail is white, except the
bunch on the tip, which is black all around. The legs be-
low the knees and hocks are clear sienna brown. Some-
times the breast is brownish black. This represents the
blue coat ; a month earlier it would have been much darker
and slatier. Summer or red coat — The red coat appears in
May and is worn until late August. It is rusty yellow
rather than red; the head, tail, and legs change little with
the season. The female is similar to the male, but duller.
The fawn is dull yellowish, thickly spotted v/ith white.
(Seton.) The tail is cylindrical, a little longer than the
ears, very slender, naked beneath, except at the end, which
is a black tuft. Horns doubly dichotomous, the forks nearly
equal. (Baird.) Seton gives the weight of a typical buck
as 215% pounds. Hornaday says that this deer is easily
recognized by its very large ears, the two Y's on each
antler, a short, white tail with a small tip of black, and a
white patch around the base of the tail.

20

MAMMALS OF UTAH

(2) CHIHUAHUA MULE DEER
ODOCOILEUS HEMIONUS CANUS (Merriam)

Odocoileus hemionus canus Merriam, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci.,
iii, 1901, p. 560.

Description— Smaller and paler than typical hemionus.

Distribution — The typical hemionus is confined in Utah
to the extreme northern part of the state, its race, canus,
occupying probably the major part of the state; but as ma-
terial is not at hand to determine the exact limits of the
two, they are treated here together.

L. F. Kneipp informs me that mule deer are increasing
in all of the Utah national forests except the Dixie, Powell
and LaSal. George H. Barney of Escalante says that they
are quite numerous in the Escalante forest, as well as south
and east to the Colorado river. He estimates 2,000 as the
number in the entire forest. Brigham Spencer of Moab
says they are quite numerous in Garfield, Wayne, San Juan,
Grand and Emery counties. B. E. Mattsson of Ephraim
says that it is estimated that there are 550 mule deer and
50 elk on the Manti forest. He adds: "The industrial de-
velopments of the country have materially affected the
egress and ingress of wild game ; particularly is this true on
the west and north sides, where there is but little winter
range, and I do not believe any big game attempt to winter
on the forest on the west and north sides. At the time this
country was settled the forest ranges were teeming with
wild life. There were no game laws in effect and as a con-
sequence the wild game was greatly diminished. Winter
range, which a few years past produced .imple feed for
wild game, is now fully consumed by domestic animals
which have precluded the wild game."

C. A. Mattsson of Salina estimates that there are 1400
mule deer in the Fishlake national forest. "The mule deer,"
he says, "is found in all the juniper-pinon and low oak brush
type of country in this vicinity during the winter seasons,
and in the higher ranges during the summer periods."
Clinto Milne of St. George says: "The mule deer on the
forest reserve in this part are estimated at 750 head. This
does not include all of the county (Washington) as deer are
found in other mountains which the forest reserve does not
cover. The deer in this part are just about holding their
own as mountain lions are numerous and kill many." J. W.
Humphrey of Panguitch says that deer are numerous on
both divisions of the Sevier forest ; also in the lower country

MAMMALS OF UTAH

21

used as winter range for cattle and sheep. E. C. Shepard of
Logan estimates that there are 250 mule deer in the Cache
national forest. William M. Anderson of Vernal informs
me: '*Mule deer are fairly plentiful; they are pretty well
distributed over the entire Uinta mountain range. I believe
that a conservative estimate of the number within and ad-
jacent to the Ashley national forest would be 3,500." I
have seen mule deer in the mountains west of Tooele City ;
and several have been taken in recent years from the can-
yons, immediately above Salt Lake City.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall of Salt Lake City, taxidermist and a
very reliable observer, informs me that he has mounted
mule deer heads from every county in the state.

Professor Marcus E. Jones informs me that he saw the
horns of the mule deer at Ibapah, in the western end of
Tooele county.

Mr. S. B. Locke and H. S. Rutledge inform me that
these deer are fairly common over the entire LaSal Na-
tional forest, particularly along Upper Pack creek, and on
the desert between Grand and Green rivers. The Indians
hunt them persistently in the Blue mountains.

Habits — The antlers of the mule deer are dichotomous,
that is, they are an arrangement of even forks instead of a
main branch with snags.

Quieter than other cervidae the mule deer nevertheless
has varied sounds to express different feelings ; when curi-
ous, it "snorts" or ''blows" ; when alarmed it "whistles" and
the doe murmers softly to her fawn, which "bleats" vocifer-
ously if lost. Both bucks and does bleat like sheep when in
extreme danger; and the buck gives a bark or challenge in
the rutting season. Both stamp the forefeet in expressing
defiance or alarm.

Though non-migratory in the strict sense of the word,
the mule deer will nevertheless ramble for a hundred miles
or more in search of meadows yet free from snow. Thus each
year hundreds desert the high Colorado ridges for the arid
or semi-arid brakes of Uinta county, Utah, a hundred or
more miles away.

If undisturbed a group of two or three mule deer will
spend the entire summer season within a hundred acres of
hillside, and, especially so, if cover is good and pea vines
abound. As the snow melts in spring, the winter groups
scatter; and at this time the repulsion of feeling between
the sexes is so strong tiiat does ramble off with does and
bucks with bucks, the latter with such equanimity that they
meander at times two and two all summer.

22

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Each doe soon seeks a lonely retreat, where in late May,
one, two or rarely three fawns are born. These she hides
in a thicket, suckling them night and morning. Twice a day
she seeks a pool to drink and at various hours eats grass,
twigs, in fact anything of a vegetable origin. Should dan-
ger threaten the little ones, a cry from her causes them to
drop as flat as a quail; and even when six or eight weeks
old, after they have begun to follow her, they hide them-
selves so cleverly that close search is required to find them.
Should a hawk appear the mother evinces solicitude by rais-
ing the hair of her neck and watching the ominous move-
ments of the intruder ; a coyote is dealt with in a more sum-
mary manner and usually chased ingloriously out of bounds.
The buck probably takes no interest in the fawns.

In November the ardor of the rutting season causes
many a push fight; but soon thereafter, when snow flies,
bands of all sexes gather amicably together under the
leadership of a grandmother doe. Food then consists of
anything green, whether procured by pawing the snow or
by standing on the hind legs.

Deep snow is, next to guns, the mule deer's direst
enemy. Food is hopelessly buried and rapid travel is pre-
vented. Then it is that the mountain lion licks his lips with
feline glee, for he has but to strike to win. To his dis-
credit, however, he is not content with the one deer a week
that his stomach could accommodate, but must kill four or
five victims a day until all the band is prostrate on the
snow. Then he lingers no longer, but seeks other fields.

Wolves, lynxes, coyotes, and eagles probably molest
only the fawns. Bluejays, however, hover about the mule
deer, at once companions and watchmen.

A mule deer can swim if compelled, but it dislikes the
water. Old and young are frequently seen gambolling to-
gether like lambs, the only amusement they are known to
indulge in.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

23

ap No. 6.— Range of Pronghorned Antelope (ANTILOCAPRA AMERICANA
Ord) in Utah. Based on records by Claude T. Barnes.

24

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Family ANTILOCAPRIDAE. Prong-horn Antelopes

PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE

ANTILOCAPRA AMERICANA (Ord)

Antilope americana Ord, Guth. Geog., ed Am. ed., ii, 1815,
p. 292.

Antilocapra americana Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.
Pub. ii, 1902, p. 43.

Description — Color above yellowish brown, or pale
dun color; a narrow transverse band between the eyes, the
top and sides of the muzzle, and a patch beneath the ear,
(wanting- in the female) liver brown; edges of upper lip,
chin and sides of face, spot behind the ear, a narrow cres-
cent on the upper part of the throat, a triangular patch be-
low this, the entire under parts and a square patch on the
rump, white. Horns, hoofs, and naked parts of the nose,
black. Horns rudimentary or wanting in the female. Eye,
large and full. Tail, short, almost rudimentary, measuring
only a few inches. The young of the species in general have
the same markings as the adults ; the brown of a different
shade however. (Baird.) The largest buck antelope in the
Zoological Park, New York, stands 371/2 inches at the shoul-
der; has a head and body length of 47% inches; tail 31/2
inches. (Hornaday.) Seton gives the weight of a four
months-old buck as 60 pounds and of a large one as 125
pounds.

Distribution — Originally this animal was found all
over Utah ; but it is now fast nearing extinction. Brigham
Spencer of Moab says that in 1895 he saw bands of twenty
or more on the San Rafael swell, Emery county. He has
also seen them in Rabbit valley, Wayne county. Clinton
Milne of St. George says that a few antelopes are still on
the desert in the vicinity of Antelope Spring, near New-
castle, Utah, and there are a few around Rock Canyon,
Arizona, about twenty miles southeast of St. George. J. W.
Humphrey of Panguitch reports that one solitary antelope
was recently seen in Emery valley. William M. Mace of
St. George says that a few are found in the Escalante
desert north of Enterprise, Utah. C. A. Mattsson of Salina
mforms me that the bones of antelopes are sometimes found
m the mountains of that vicinity, but no live animals have
recently been seen.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall has mounted heads taken in the
desert near Cedar City, and fifteen years ago he mounted a
head that was taken in Utah, near Wendover.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

25

Professor Marcus E. Jones says that antelopes are
still seen occasionally on all the plains of western Utah
from Lund to Antelope valley, Nevada. In 1891 he saw
a herd of twenty at Gold Hill, Nevada, just over the Utah
line, and believes that their range extended undoubtedly
into this state.

F. W. Parker says that there was a herd of three hun-
dred antelopes on Judd Creek, thirty miles west of Tintic,
Juab County, in 1911, and that sheepherders report that
they are still there. He saw them every day during one
summer. They would come in early each morning to visit
a well known salt lick; and when chased they invariably
ran southward into a district of such loose sand that a horse
could not run in it at all. This protective part of the desert
may for a long time prevent the extermination of this par-
ticular band.

Habits — Swift as an arrow and as graceful as Hyperion,
the antelope is truly the Ladas of the woods, the fleetest
animal of the wilds. Elegance, too, is its natural attribute,
for its delicate shape is second only to its wondrously beau-
teous eyes.

A level stretch of open country two miles across seems
sufficient for an antelope's individual range; and if the
winters are mild and enemies scarce this patch is apt to be
made the permanent residence. In eastern Utah, when the
snow flies, antelopes congregate in the sheltered valleys of
the mountains.

The horns of the antelope are shed each year, a fact
discovered by Rufus B. Sage in 1841. The buttocks of each
antelope are white ; and the hair can be raised at will. This
discograph, when raised, shines in the sun like a tin pan.
From glands in the center of each hair disc is issued in times
of danger a musk, which so scents the air that other ante-
lopes can smell it actually for miles, and thus avoid the
wolf or whatever excited it.

The voice of the antelope to her kid is a querulous,
grunting bleat, though adults of both sexes give shrill
whistles or snorts when alarmed and bark when very cu-
rious. The kid utters a bleat or squeak.

The seraphic eyes of the antelope are larger and prob-
ably milder than those of any other animal of the same size.
The poor creatures actually shed tears when in terror or
despair.

Being creatures of the dry plains, antelopes live on
grass, cactus, and sage, but they never browse on twigs and

26

MAMMALS OF UTAH

leaves, nor eat acorns. In some parts of Utah they probably
go entirely without water.

The young are born in May, and the little fellows, usu-
ally two, follow the mother when two weeks old, but lie per-
fectly still at a signal from her. Flies cannot make them
even wink at such a time.

In September the bands assemble and soon thereafter
the bucks begin their annual fighting.

Family BOVIDAE. Oxen, Sheep, Goats
Subfamily RUPICAPRINAE

MOUNTAIN SHEEP

OVIS CERVINA (Desmarest)

Ovis cervina Desm., Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., 1804, p. 5.

Ovis canadenis Shaw, Nat. Misc., 1804? pi. 610.

Ovis ammon Mitch., Med. Rep., 1807, p. 35.

Ovis pygargus H. Smith, Griff, Anim. Kingd., v, 1827, p. 318.

Ovis californianus Dougl., Zool. Journ., 1828, p. 332.

Description — Much larger than the domestic sheep.
Horns, in the male very large, curving round, but rarely
completing a full circle, and with but little spiral twist, com-
pared with other species. The tips of the horns not more
than twenty inches apart. General color grayish brown,
paler about the head; a light patch under the lower jaw.
Legs like the body, with a narrow line of white on their
posterior edges. Buttocks, for some inches anterior to the
tail, and belly, white. Tail like the back. Female with
smaller horns more like those of the goat. Hoofs black;
horns yellowish brown. (Baird.) All desert specimens are
much paler in color than those inhabiting well-watered,
heavily forested regions. (Hornaday.)

Distribution — The general range of this species is from
the high mountain ranges of the Colorado river north into
British Columbia. Brigham Spencer of Moab reports that
he has taken them on Escalante Creek, Garfield county,
Utah, and on the Grand river in Grand county. Carl P.
Arentson says there are 106 mountain sheep on the whole
Uinta mountain range. Clinton Milne of St. George informs
me that there are a few mountain sheep in the pink ledges
of Little Zion canyon near Springdale, Washington county;

ip No. 7.— Range of Mountain Sheep (OVIS CERVINA Des.) in Utah.
Based on records by Claude T. Barnes.

28

MAMMALS OF UTAH

he estimates about twenty-five head. C. A. Mattsson of
Salina, says that the horns of the mountain sheep are
sometimes found on the mountains there but that none of
the Hve animals have been recently seen. According to
J. W. Humphrey of Panguiteh big horns were formerly
numerous in the mountain ranges west and north of Pan-
guiteh; but they have now been nearly exterminated.

Theodore Seeholser of Logan took some mountain sheep
west of Tony grove; and saw several in Cottam canyon in
1905 and in 1914. William M. Anderson of Vernal writes
me as follows: 'There are probably four hundred head of
mountain sheep in the Ashley forest. Generally speaking
the game situation in this section is below the average, I
believe, for the middle west. On account of the Utah and
White River Indians being located in this part of the state,
most all of the game animals have been intensively hunted
for many years and not given much of a chance to re-
cuperate. Besides on account of our being quite a distance
away from the centers of population the enforcement of our
protective laws has been rather limited."

Mr. F. A. Wrathall reports that he once saw eight
head of mountain sheep on the north slope of the Uinta
mountains at the head of Black's Fork, and that a very fine
specimen was found last year by a Mr. Brewer as the ani-
mal was floating dead down the Virgin river. Twenty years
ago Robert Walker found mountain sheep at the head of
Hughes' canyon near Twin Peaks, Salt Lake county, and
they have recently been reported from Mount Timpanog^s,
near Provo, Utah.

Professor Marcus E. Jones informs me that he has seen
this species near Kanab, along the Grand River, near Castle
Dale and on the Frisco mountains in Beaver county. Pro-
fessor Orson Howard one time secured a hybrid pelt from
near Kanab, where this species crossed with the domestic
sheep. The pelt was for some years at the University of
Utah.

F. W. Parker reports that there are a few mountain
sheep left on Granite mountain, Tooele county; and George
Perkins of Pleasant Green has a bighorn skull overgrown by
a tree, which was taken from the same vicinity.

S. B. Locke says there are a few along the canyons of
the Green, Grand and Colorado rivers. Some appear fre-
quently along the Grand river near Moab, occupying the
same vicinity winter and summer.

Dr. Hornaday informs me that he had reports of the
existence of mountain sheep at Little Pinto in 1899, his

MAMMALS OF UTAH

29

informant being G. C. Goddard, and in 1896 D. Arrow-
smith reported a band at Willard in the Wasatch mountains.

Habits — It is said that the task of Sisyphus in the
world of shades is to roll a huge stone to the top of a
hill and fix it there despite its irresistible tendency to
bound down again each time the feat is seemingly accom-
plished. It is just so in hunting the mountain sheep, whose
head is usually the most valued prize among the trophies
of the American hunter's den: mountains of irksome and
dangerous acclivity must be scaled; narrow, crumbling
ledges ribboning cliffs of dizzy heights must be traversed;
and all of the comforts of camp must be left with the
horses in the timber line far below.

The females of all wild sheep wear horns, though
smaller than those of the bucks. The flesh of all varieties
of mountain sheep, is so delicious as to afford a real stimu-
lus to the hunter. "

During the winter the bighorns, young and old, mingle
in bands in their favorite localities. Bleak winds and driv-
ing snow do not worry them for their warm coats are so
closely matted that only the indifferent protection of a
cliff is sought during the worst storm. They live so high,
indeed, that every blast serves only to denude everything
of snow; but should a mantle of whiteness remain, the re-
sourceful sheep paws in precisely the right place until the
delicate green appears. After exceedingly heavy snows this
species will at times go down to the timber.

When a blizzard is raging over every ridge, the sheep
huddle side by side, the little fellows crouching low be-
tween the adults. Old males at such times become restless
and prowl about, nibbling indifferently. Sometimes, how-
ever, the entire band is snowed under in a cave; but even
then the stout old males work a way out with their horns.

As the warm rays of the spring sun fill every living
thing with new vigor, the rams wander away alone into the
tiny meadow-oases, midst the rugged cliffs of the higher
mountains. Here at the very foot of eternal snow the big-
horn lives a peaceful life. By the middle of July the old coat
has been shed for a new and by the last of September the
lonely ram is as fat as butter. As the chill blasts come he
once more joins the family herd on the hillside below, tak-
ing but cursory interest in the stout, frolicsome lambs.

30 MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 8.— (Whole shaded area) range of Buffalo (BISON BISON Linl
m Utah in 1500; (dotted area) range in 1850. Compiled from E.I
Setcn, Dr. J. A. Allen and Dr. Wm. T. Hornaday. i

MAMMALS OF UTAH

31

BISON: AMERICAN BUFFALO

BISON BISON (Linnaeus)

Bison americanus, Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub.,

11, 1901, p. 49.
Bos bison, Linn., Syst. Nat., 1, 1758, p. 72.

Bison bison, Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub., 11,
1901, SuppL, p. 486.

Description — The bull has the head, " tail, legs, lower
parts of neck, and shoulders, dark brown, shaded into
lighter brown on the upper parts of the body, palest on the
shoulders and hump ; towards spring, all the upper parts of
the body bleach into a dull brownish yellow, beside which
the head looks black. The cow is similar but darker in the
body color. At birth the calf is dull reddish-yellow, paler on
the legs and under parts ; at six months it is more like the
mother; at two years it is everywhere a deep glossy, black-
ish brown ; after this it again grows paler with age. Aver-
age weight of bull 1800 pounds. (Seton.)

Distribution — At about the year 1500 the range of the
buffalo included all of Utah except the southwestern third,
and in 1850 a few probably survived in the extreme north-
eastern part of the state close to the Colorado-Wyoming
line. A small herd has for years been kept on Antelope
Island in the Great Salt Lake, where they exist in almost a
wild state. A few wild survivors of the original hordes of
buffaloes are said still to exist in Canada, and of course
there are some yet in Yellowstone Park. It is estimated
that there are now about 4,000 buffaloes alive, about equally
divided between the United States and Canada. This in-
cludes both wild and captives.

Professor Marcus E. Jones informs me that in 1898 he
picked up a buffalo skull near Saltair, Salt Lake county ; and
that the Ute Indians say th-at the buffalo ranged through-
out all northern Utah until about twenty years before the
white men came to this state (1820) when they were all
killed off by a snow storm of over four feet depth. Dr.
Hornaday tells me that this was the greatest slaughter of
bison by natural causes ever known.

As suitable localities are available Utah should by all
means have a state herd of bison.

Habits — The sad story of the buffalo — how it de-
creased from about fifty million individuals to less than
two thousand in a few years — is known to everyone. It was

32

MAMMALS OF UTAH

the principal source of food for the early Mormon pioneers
when coming to Utah, though not after they reached this
state.

Although the buffalo has but a single calf a year, ordi-
narily they do very well in large preserves.

The buffalo was the principal game animal of the In-
dians, who made their clothing and tepees of the skins, ate
the flesh at all seasons and even kept tribal histories by
writing or drawing pictures on the smooth surfaces of the
tanned skins.

4

Order RODENTIA: Rodents

Family SCIURIDAE. Squirrels, Marmots, etc.

Subfamily SCIURINAE

WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS
CHICKAREE

SCIURUS HUDSONIUS VENTORUM (Allen)

Sciurus hudsonius ventorum Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
N. Y., 1898, p. 263.

Description — Dorsal line and back dark red; apical
third of tail black ; size large. Winter pelage — Upper parts,
legs and feet yellowish gray; dorsal line dark rufous; lat-
eral line dusky; beneath white; tail above yellowish rufous
bordered with black and fringed with yellow; beneath
grizzled gray. Summer pelage — Above dark olivaceous ; lat-
eral line obscure; tail like winter, but reddish, central area
not well defined. (Elliot.)

Distribution — Wind River mountains north to Mystic
Lake, west to head of Snake river in Idaho, south to Wa-
satch range, northeastern Utah.

Habits — These squirrels do not hibernate, but are ac-
tive throughout the year ; they accumulate at the base of -a
tree, under the shelter of a log, great stores of pine, spruce
or other cones, sometimes in heaps containing from six to
ten bushels. They also hide nuts, corn and other seeds in
hollows or underground store-rooms, and sometimes lay up
a half bushel or more of dried mushrooms in hollow trees.
They have the greatest variety of vocal notes possessed by
any members of the squirrel family. In addition to barking,
scolding and chattering, they sometimes sing with long-
drawn musical or churring notes. (Nelson.) Hornaday
says that on their native tree-trunks these little animals are
probably the most agile of our squirrels.

34

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 9. — (Lined area) Range of Wind River Mountains Chickaree (SCll
URUS HUDSONIUS VENTORUM Allen) in Utah. (Dotted area) Ran
of Fremont's Chickaree (SCIURUS FREMONTI Aud. and Bach.) in Uta
Based on E. T. Seton's map and records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

35

FREMONT'S CHICKAREE

SCIURUS FREMONTI (Aud. & Bachm.)
Sciurus fremonti Aud. & Bachm. Quad. N. Am. III., 1853, p. 237.

Description — Tail shorter than the body. Ears tufted
in winter, but not in summer. Above mixed brown, gray,
and pale rusty, the prevalent tint similar to that of the gray
squirrel; beneath bluish white, a dark line along the sides.
Eyelids white. Tail entirely black at end, the hairs tipped
with light grey; on other parts of the tail a mixture of
plumbeous and greyish rusty at the base of the hairs. No
rusty visible externally. (Baird.)

Distribution — Mountains of Colorado and the Uinta
mountains, Utah, to the southern border of Wyoming.

Habits — Like the common Northern Red Squirrel,
which it greatly resembles in all respects, except color, S.
fremonti feeds chiefly upon pine and spruce cones, which
are hoarded in large caches at the bases of trees, beneath
logs, and among rocks. I have never found it living in a
hollow tree, although it may do so occasionally. The nests
of pine or spruce needles and fine strips of bark are usually
constructed in the fork of a branch well out from the main
trunk, at from 20 to 40 feet above the ground in the densest
forest. I have found the nest occupied by the squirrels in
both summer and winter. This squirrel is not at all shy and
may be coaxed to within a few feet by making a nonde-
script ''screeping noise." (Gary.)

GILA CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS DORSALIS (Baird)

Tamias dorsallis Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil. 1855,
p. 332.

Tamias quadrivitatus pallidus Coues and Yarr., in Wheeler's
Rep. Geogr. Expl. and Surv. West of 100th Merid. V, 1876,
p. 118.

Descriptian — Sides of head with the usual stripes of
Tamias, but very distinct and well defined. Above, hoary
mixed with rusty and brown; beneath, dull white. Sides
and buttocks dull rusty. A single distinct dorsal dark

36

MAMMALS OF UTAH

stripe; the others usually seen in the genus being obsolete,
except the exterior light stripe, which is somewhat distinct.
Tail with the vertebrae half the length of the body; the
hairs unusually long, black and chestnut, largely tipped with
white. Body about five inches ; tail sensibly shorter. Hind
foot, 1.25 inches. This species is readily distinguishable
from all others by the single dorsal stripe, the others being
obsolete. The more bushy tail, with its conspicuous mark-
ings of chestnut, black, and white, is also highly character-
istic of it. (Baird.)

Distribution — Northern Utah to northern Mexico, west
to the Sierra Nevada, east to the Nimbres in New Mexico.

Habits — The Gila chipmunk is secluded in its habits,
never wandering far from its abode, which seems to be
principally in the crevices of rocks. Pinions, cedar ber-
ries, and acorns are its food. (Clark.)

As a group the chipmunks are widely known for their
grace, beauty of coloration, and sprightly ways. Their
food includes a great variety of cultivated and wild plants,
as wheat, buckwheat, corn, grass seeds, ragweed seeds,
hazelnuts, acorns, strawberries, blueberries, mushrooms and
many others. In addition they eat May beetles, and other
insects and insect larvae, snails, occasionally frogs, salaman-
ders, small snakes, small birds and eggs. At all seasons
they fill their cheek pouches with food to be carried away to
their dens, but toward the end of summer or early fall they
work industriously laying up stores of seeds and nuts. Some-
times these stores, hidden in chambers excavated for the
purpose or in hollow logs or similar places, contain several
quarts of nuts or seeds. Small quantities of such food are
hidden under leaves or in shallow pits in the ground. (Nel-
son.)

HOPI CHIPMUNK

EUTAMIAS HOPIENSIS (Merriam)

Eutamias hopiensis Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XVIII,
p. 165 (1905).

Description — General appearance of animal a lightish
chestnut or rufous color; the medium dark stripe is a dark
shade of the same color, with middle part of the posterior
portion black; inner pair of dark stripes similar, but lack-

MAMMALS OF UTAH

37

ing the black, or at most it is but faintly indicated; outer
pair of dark stripes nearly obsolete, just a shade darker
than the color of the flanks ; inner pair of light stripes not
very distinct, grayish white; outer pair much whiter and
clearer ; rump and flanks grayish ; sides of body and upper
surfaces of feet light bright rufous ; a distinct, large white
postauricular spot and posterior half of ear whitish; light
facial stripes quite white ; dark ones rufous, the lower run-
ning distinctly around under ear; top of head mixed gray-
ish and rusty, with some black hairs intermixed; below,
grayish white; tail above, mixed black and chestnut; below
bright chestnut with indistinct black border. Total length,
8.5; tail vert. 3.5; hind foot 1.25. (Warren.)

Distribution — Northern Arizona, southeastern Utah,
southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Sev-
eral specimens have been taken at Dragon and Bluff City,
Utah.

Habits — In size and general appearance the Hopi chip-
munk resembles E. quadrivittatus of the eastern foothills,
but its movements are more deliberate and its colors much
brighter and richer. The long tail is carried more nearly
horizontally even when the animal is running. This strik-
ing habit, together with the graceful downward curve of the
tail near the tip, serves to distinguish it, even at a distance,
from the small E. consobrinus, with which it commingles
in the higher parts of its range. In the juniper country
south of White river its habits of leaping up a tree when
alarmed and hiding on the opposite side of a branch may
cause it to be confused with the gray utahensis, which is
found in similar country in the Escalante Hills. The Hopi
chipmunks appear equally at home among the hot rocks in
the precipitous canyons and in the dense junipers and pinon
growth which clothes the bordering mesas. They feed ex-
tensively upon the berries of Juniperus monosperma
throughout their range. (Gary.)

UTAH CHIPMUNK

EUTAMIAS DORSALIS UTAHENSIS (Merriam)

Eutamias dorsalis utahensis Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash,
XI, p. 210, (1897).

Description — General tone grayish above, dull mixed
gray and rufous on rump ; sides pale rufous or chestnut, as
is also the upper surface of the foot; beneath yellowish

38

MAMMALS OF UTAH

white ; stripes indistinct ; median stripe blackish, inner dark
pair grizzled, mixed blackish and rusty rufous, outer dark
pair practically obsolete inner pair of light stripes grayish
white, quite wide; outer pair also grayish white, but nar-
row; indistinct grayish white post-auricular spot; posterior
half of ear grayish white; light facial stripes whitish; a
rusty stripe through eye; upper and lower facial stripes
mixed blackish and rufous, the latter stripe rather indi-
stinct; top of head mixed grayish and rusty; upper sur-
face of tail blackish, fringed with white-tipped hairs ; under
surface rufous, bordered with blackish. Total length 8.75;
tail vert. 3.5 ; hind foot, 1.3. (Warren.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Ogden,
Utah, though its general range extends throughout north-
ern Utah and northwestern Nevada, throughout Arizona to
New Mexico. Gary says that Utahensis has not been taken
much east of Provo in Utah. It is an upper Sonoran form
and probably ranges eastward along the southern foothills
of Uinta mountains, entering Colorado in the region of the
Yampa plateau, south of Bear River. Future work in north-
eastern Utah will determine whether there is a continuity
of range, or the Colorado colony is entirely isolated.

Habits — These chipmunks are very wild. Their fa-
vorite feeding time is in early morning and just before
sunset, when they may be found usually in the tops of ju-
nipers, busily feasting upon the berries. When frightened
they utter a series of high-pitched notes, and after a hasty
descent to the ground flee precipitately, rarely stopping
within sight. The bushy tail is very prominent and gives
the animal the appearance of a small squirrel, and this re-
semblance is heightened by the ease and rapidity with
which it climbs trees and keeps on the opposite side from
the observer. The seeds of juniper berry appear to be the
chief food. (Cary.)

DARK CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS UMBRINUS (Allen)

Tamias umbrinus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1890,
p. 96.

Descriptian — Larger than T. quadrivittatus, colors
duller, and outer dark stripe obsolete. Autumn pelage- —
Above yellowish brown gray; flanks dull yellowish brown;

MAMMALS OF UTAH

39

under parts grayish white. Dark dorsal stripes black
mixed with yellowish or rusty brown ; outer ones usually ob-
solete. Light stripes pale gray, outer ones whitish. Facial
streaks dusky brown and gray. Tail above orange and
black; beneath orange rufous bordered with black and
fringed with yellowish. (Elliot.)

Distribution — Wasatch and Uintah ranges of northern
and central Utah. I found this species very common in the
foothills west of Kamas, Utah, where they seemed to favor
the strip of ground between a spring-moistened gully and
a big wheat field.

RELATED CHIPMUNK: WASATCH
CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS MINIMUS CONSOBRINUS (Allen)

Tamias asiaticus var. pallidus Allen, Mon. N. A. Roden, 1877,
p. 793. (Part.)

Tamias minimus consobrinus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
N. Y., 1890, p. 112. Elliot, Syn, N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub. II, 1901, p. 78. Zool. Ser.

Description — A very much darker-colored animal than
minimus: in midsummer pelage almost black-looking; the
dark dorsal stripes are very black, with a faint edging of
bright chestnut and fairly wide ; the inner light stripes nar-
row, quite a dark gray, the outer a much lighter gray,
nearer white; sides of body deep, bright rufous; flanks
dark gray ; upper surfaces of feet pale rufous or rusty ; top
of head black with gray and rufous hairs intermixed ; dark
facial stripes rather black; light stripes grayish, not very
distinct; postauricular spot grayish white; below grayish
white; tail above, black, with some rufous intermixed, be-
low rufous with black border ; the tail is thin as in E. mini-
mus. In winter pelage the animal is grayer, and the col-
ors are not so intense. (Warren.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is the
Wasatch foothills, near Salt Lake City, Utah. Its range ex-
tends throughout the eastern border of the Great Basin in
eastern Utah, western and southern Colorado, and north-
western New Mexico.

Habits — The sharp notes of this chipmunk are charac-
teristic sounds in the depths of the aspen and spruce for-
.ests. Deserted cabins are especially frequented by them,

40

MAMMALS OF UTAH

and near a camp the chipmunks soon become tame and un-
suspecting. In the high country the food consists largely of
wild cherries, june berries and snow berries. (Symphori-
carpos oreophiius.) In the White River valley in Septem-
ber they were feeding extensively upon buffalo berries (Le-
pargyrea argentea). Gary.)

BUSY CHIPMUNK

EUTAMIAS AMOENUS OPERARIUS (Merriam)

Eutamias amoenus operarius Merrian, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.
XVIII, p. 164, (1905).

Description — Middle, and inner pair of dark stripes
quite broad and black, with indistinct rufous borders ; outer
pair dark stripes less distinct, mixed black and rufous ; light
stripes broad, and grayish white, the outer pair being the
whitest; sides light rufous; flanks gray; upper surfaces of
feet light dull rufous; light facial stripes grayish white;
dark ones blackish; large whitish postauricular patch; be-
low, rusty white; upper surface of tail mixed rusty and
black ; below, rusty white ; upper surface of tail mixed rusty
and black; below rufous, black bordered; the tail is much
bushier than in E. minimus or E. consobrinus. Total length,
8.00; tail vert. 3.5; hind foot, 1.25. (Warren.)

Distribution — The only record of the occurrence of this
species thus far in the state of Utah is Mr. Gary's statement
that he found operarius abundant in the high LaSal moun-
tains, Utah, in July, 1907, at 11,000 feet. The species is
found mostly in the state of Colorado.

PAINTED CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS MINIMUS PICTUS (AUen)

Tamias minimus pictus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y.,
1890, p. 115.

Description — Similar to T. minimus; colors pallid. Post-
breeding pelage — Above slate-gray; flanks pale yellowish
buff; shoulders and hips pale slate gray. Median dark
dorsal streaks black others seal brown edged with rufous;
median light stripes slate gray, outer pair white. Tail above
black and yellowish gray ; below dark yellow buff, bordered
with black and fringed with yellowish gray. (Elliot.)

MAMMALS OF UTAH

41

Distribution — The type locality of this form is Kel-
ton, Utah. Its range is the western border of Great Salt
Lake westward, and from southern Utah and southern Ne-
vada to the Snake plains of eastern Washington. H. S.
Rutledge and S. H. Locke say these chipmunks are very
common in San Juan county.

Habits — Its home is on treeless plains, in a climate
characterized by brilliant sunshine and clear, dry air. These
little animals are exceedingly alert and agile, darting
through dense growth of bushes with all the easy grace of
weasels. When running they hold the tail stiffly erect.
When alarmed they utter a shrill chippering cry, especially
when darting into shelter. They also have a chucking call,
uttered at intervals, which may be used merely as a note
of sociability or to put their neighbors on the alert. It is
most numerous on flats and foothill slopes among heavy
growths of sage and rabbit brush. When its territory is
invaded by settlers it does not hesitate to gather about the
borders of fields and even to raid barns in search of grain
and other rocks and similar shelter. In addition to seeds
and green vegetation, they eat any fruits growing in their
haunts, and also many insects, especially grasshoppers and
larvae. They also take a web worm and its chrysalids with
which the sage bushes are sometimes swarmed. The vege-
table food eaten includes the seeds of Ribes, Kuntzia, Sar-
cobatus, pigweed, serviceberry, grasses, oats, wheat, and the
seeds of small cactuses. Throughout most of their range
they begin hibernation in September or October, and reap-
pear early in Spring. (Nelson.)

BEAVER VALLEY CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS LECTUS (Allen)

Eutamias lectus Allen, Bull. Brookl. Inst. Arts & Scien., 1,
No. 5, 1905, p. 117.

Description — Post-breeding pelage — Similar in size to
T. m. pictus, but colors stronger; flanks, shoulders and
sides of neck, deep rufous ; face stripes broader and darker,
and light stripes narrower; post-auricular patch gray; cen-
tral area of tail beneath bright rufous. Breeding pelage —
Closely resembling the coloration of T. cinereicoUis, but dis-
tinguished from that species by the small size of the present
form.

42

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Distribution— The type locality of this form is Beaver
valley, Beaver county, Utah, and the extent of its range is
not known.

Habits — It is highly desirable that this species be stud-
ied carefully by competent observers as little is known
of its habits.

BEAVER MOUNTAINS CHIPMUNK

TAMIAS ADSITUS (Allen)

Eutamias adsitus Allen, Bull. Brookl. Inst. Arts & Scien., 1,
No. 5, 1905, p. 118.

Description — Similar to T. lectus in coloration, but one-
third larger.

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Briggs
Meadows, Beaver Range mountains, Utah, at an altitude of
10,000 feet. Its geographic distribution is unknown.

Habits — There is an excellent opportunity for someone
to make a thorough study of the habits of this interesting
little animal for very little is known concerning it.

HARRIS' SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS HARRISI (Audubon and Bachman)

Spermophilus harrisii Aud. & Bachm. Quad. N. Am. Ill, 1854,
p. 267, pi. 144. fig. 1. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub. II, 1901, p. 85. Zool. Ser.

Citellus harrisi Elliot, Mamm. Middle Amer. & W. Indies,
F. C. M. Pub. IV, PI. I, 1904, p. 141. Zool. Ser.

Description — Tail vertebrae about half the length of
the body. Ears short, pointed. Soles hairy. The upper
parts generally are of a finely grizzled yellowish gray,
brown and black, the color purer on the anterior portion of
the back ; under parts, including the tail, sides of the head,
ring around the eye, and a distinct stripe on each side from
the shoulders to the hips very pale brownish white ; near the
outside of the shoulder, arms, and legs of a pale chestnut,
this color tinging the grizzled sides below the light stripe ;
the hairs on the thighs with paler tips and some long black

MAMMALS OF UTAH

43

hairs interspersed. The tail is very pale brownish white
externally, then black, then white as before, and finally
black on the central line; each lateral hair, therefore, hav-
ing the base and sub-terminal bar black, the margin and
sub-basal bar white. All the lateral hairs have a very nar-
row tip of black, scarcely appreciable. The whole under
surface shows a uniform whitish, the concealed bases only
being dusky, the basal third above is like the back. The
hairs on the upper part of the body are dark plumbeous at
the extreme base, then silky white for the greater part of
their length, then brown, passing into black, and finally
tipped with the whitish as described ; interspersed are many
hairs entirely black. Under the light lateral stripes, the
hairs are without the dusky at the terminal portion, or
only lead color and whitish. The hairs on the under parts
are all plumbeous at base. Length, 5 inches; tail, with
hairs, about 3. Hind foot, 1.45. (Baird.)

Distribution — Southern Utah and Nevada into Califor-
nia and south into Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico.

Habits — The Harris ground-squirrel inhabits the open
plains, desert regions, valleys, canyons and river bottoms
of Southern Utah and Arizona, usually under 5,200 feet
altitude. It is fond of mesquite beans which it stores for
winter use, husking the seeds before carrying them under-
ground. It is full of playfulness and noisy activity. The
rutting season extends from January to March; and the
young are half grown by July. This species is to some
extent carnivorous. (Mearns.)

WHITE-TAILED SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS LEUCURUS (Merriam)

Tamias leucurus Merriam, N. Am. Faun. No. 2, 1889, p. 20.
Spermophilus leucurus Ellilot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.

Pub. II, 1901, p. 86, fig. 18. Zool. Ser.
Citellus leucurus Elliot, Mamm. Middle Amer. & W. Indies,

F. C. M. Pub. IV, Ft. I, 1904, p. 142. Zool. Ser.

Description — Above, finely grizzled, the ground color
varying from grayish on the anterior half of the back to
pinkish vinaceous on the rump and head, and becoming sal-
mon on the outside of the fore legs and thighs. A single
white stripe on each side extends from the shoulders to the
rump. Eyelids and underparts white. Tail bicolor; above,
iron-gray, resulting from the fine admixture of the white

44

MAMMALS OF UTAH

and black annulation of the hairs, with an indistinct white
border; below, clear white, with a subterminal black border
more or less obscured by the underlying hairs, which are
white throughout without annulations. On the upper side
of the tail all the hairs are annulated. On the proximal half
the lateral hairs are longer than elsewhere, the very base of
each hair is white, and there are two annulations of black
as in harrisi; on the distal half the base of each hair is
black, with but one free black annulation. (Merriam.)

Distribution — Lower California, Mexico into California,
Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. I have taken them at
Beaver, Cedar City and St. George, Utah.

Habits — Merriam calls this spermophile the antelope
squirrel, from the under side of the tail which is white, and
becomes the most conspicuous feature of the animal as it
runs swiftly away with tail cocked up over its back, after
the manner of the antelope. Hornaday says that this ani-
mal is, for a spermophile, unusually fat or thick in the
body.

Commonly known as the antelope, or white-tailed chip-
munk, this handsome little mammal is in reality a species of
spermophile, or ground squirrel. This misnomer is due, no
doubt, to its small size, striped back, and sprightly ways.
From the true chipmunks it may be distinguished by its
heavier proportions, and from both chipmunks and all other
spermophiles by its odd, upturned tail, carried closely re-
curved along the top of the rump. This character renders
the species unmistakeable at a glance and gives it an amus-
ing air of jaunty self-confidence. It appears equally at
home skipping nimbly over rocky slopes or among slide
rock in arid canyons and scurrying through the brushy
growth on broad sandy plains devoid of rocks. In the
higher and colder parts of their range, where snow lies long
on the ground, these spermophiles hibernate for several
months, but in the warmer areas they are active throughout
the year. Wherever they occur they gather food and carry
it to their underground store-rooms in their cheek pouches.
Like most ground squirrels, they eat many kinds of seeds
and fruits as well as flesh and insects. About cultivated
lands they are sometimes abundant and destructive, digging
up grain as soon as it is planted. They have one or more
litters a season with from four to twelve young in each.
(Nelson.)

MAMMALS OF UTAH

45

LITTLE THIRTEEN-LINED
SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS TRIDECEMLINEATUS PARVUS (Allen)

Spermophilus tridecemlineatus parvus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus.
Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1895, p. 337. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm.
F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 100. Zool. Ser.

Description — Striped above, six light and seven dark
longitudinal stripes ; the light stripes a yellowish gray color,
some at least of the hairs black tipped ; dark stripes a dark
brown, almost black sometimes; all these stripes, except
outer one on each side, have a row of spots in centre, of same
color as light stripes; outer dark stripe unspotted and ill
defined ; top of head irregularly marked with colors of back ;
flanks somewhat rusty; buffy ring around eye; sides and
upper surfaces of feet and under parts similar color to
light stripes but somewhat lighter and more yellowish ; chin
whitish; tail above indistinctly banded black and yellowish
white, latter color on tips of hairs, and on tip of tail ; under
surface of tail the same color as under part of body. Total
length, 8.0; tail vert, 3.0; hind foot, 1.12. (Warren.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is the
Uncompahgre Indian Reservation, northeastern Utah,
though its range extends in the near-by vicinities of Colo-
rado and Wyoming. Its food consists of roots, green stuff,
seeds, insects.

Habits — This animal is also known as ^'striped gopher" ;
it is diurnal in habits. The entrance to the burrows of these
ground squirrels is about two inches in diameter. It is lo-
cated usually in the midst of grass or weedy growths, and
has little or no fresh earth about it. The burrow de-
scends for several inches almost vertically and then turns
almost horizontally in a sinuous and erratic course, with nu-
merous branches and side passages leading up lo the sur-
face.

These squirrels hibernate throughout their ):'ange, en-
tering their long sleep in an excessive!}^ fat condition the last
of September or in October. Soon after they appear in
spring they mate and the single litter of the year, contain-
ing from five to thirteen young, is born the last of May or
early in June. (Nelson.)

46

MAMMALS OF UTAH

SAY GROUND SQUIRREL: STRIPED
SPERMOPHILE

CALLOSPERMOPHILUS LATERALIS (Say)

Sciurus lateralis Say, Long's Exped. Rocky Mts. II, 1823, p. 46.
Spermophilus lateralis Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub. I, 1901, p. 83, fig. 17. Zool. Ser.

Description — Ears conspicuous ; high. Tail, with hairs,
more than half as long as head and body ; depressed. Middle
region of the back finely grizzled yellowish gray and black,
without any lines; on each side two distinct black stripes,
enclosing a yellowish white one, all of about the same diam-
eter. Posterior half of the thigh and rump dark chestnut
brown, without stripes. Top of the head chestnut. Under
surface of tail bright chestnut; margined with brownish
yellow, within which is a black band. Length about 7 inches,
tail, with hairs, about 4; hind foot, from heel, 1.42 inches.
(Baird.)

Distribution — Colorado, Utah and Arizona. In Utah it
is found frequently in the White River and Bear River dis-
tricts, and on the Uncompahgre Plateau.

Habits — As its food consists largely of low, green vege-
tation, it is quite as terrestrial as the Harris chipmunk, sel-
dom climbing trees, but showing great adaptability for
movement amid the rocks and prostrate timber of its forest
home. As one rides through the woodland it is seen perched
on stones and fallen timber, or nimbly running about among
the branches and decayed trunks of fallen forest monarchs.
It often sits erect on its hind feet with its paws dropped by
its sides, uttering a high pitched whistle which is ventrilo-
quial in character, seeming to proceed from the nearest
tree tops whilst in reality it comes from the ground at a
much greater distance. The young are brought forth in
June and July in burrows under logs or stones. Its nest
is bulky, being composed of dry grass or any soft material
at hand. (Mearns.)

MAMMALS OF UTAH

47

WHITE-TAILED SPERMOPHILE:
ANTELOPE SQUIRREL

AMMOSPERMOPHILUS LEUCURUS CINNAMOMEUS

(Merriam)

Tamias leucurus cinnamomeus Merriam N. Am. F. No. 3, p. 52,
1890.

Description-Back grizzled black white and rufous;
top of head rufous; very little black intermixed; a distinct
white stripe on either side of back, about one-eighth oi an
tach wide, extending from shoulder- to hip; shoulders sides
of body below stripe and flanks, and upper surfaces of feet,
flight rufous or cinnamon color; light nng about eye;
undfr surface of body white; upper surface of tail black
white edged under surface white, mixed black and white
border and tip. Total length, 8.50; tail vert. 2.50; hind
foot, 1.60. (Warren.)

Distribution— White River, Grand River, and streams
tributary to the Colorado and Green Rivers, t also occurs
in northern Arizona, southern Utah, southwestern Colorado
Lnd northeastern New Mexico. S. H. Locke says they are
common in the desert region about LaSal National Forest.

Habits— Antelope squirrels frequent sandy arroyos and
are sTriking objects as they frisk about in the mornmg sun^
shine with the pure white under surface of the upraised
tail shewing prominently. They are easily alarmed and re-
treat predpitately to the burrows, which are usually m the
sandy bank of a dry desert wash or beneath sage or Atnplex
bushes. (Gary.)

CHESTNUT-TAILED SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS CASTANURUS (Merriam)
Tamias chrysodeirus Merriam N A. F. No. 4 1890 p^ia
Spermophilus chrysodeirus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm,
M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 84. Zool. Ser. ^

DescriDtion— Color: Head and neck to shoulders ferru-

48

MAMMALS OF UTAH

tipped with whitish or very pale yellowish, the dusky base
showing through. Tail above mixed yellow, black, and red-
dish brown, with yellow or fulvous border; tail below deep
chestnut, with a submarginal black band. Upper surfaces
of feet whitish. The ground color of the rump and outer
side of the leg is darker and more strongly suffused with
reddish-brown than in T. chrysodeirus. (Merriam.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Park
City, Utah, (altitude 7,000 feet). Its range extends gen-
erally throughout the Wasatch mountains.

Habits — These ground squirrels are particularly abun-
dant around Park City, and around the boarding-houses at
the mines, where they pick crumbs about the doors. A
good many live along the roads, picking up the grain that
falls from wagons. Of thirty-five stomachs examined, all
but ten contained remains of insects (grasshoppers, beetles,
fhes, and larvae). Most of them contained also seeds of
plants, flowers, and foliage, and some were nearly full of
roses. Many contained corn, beans, oats, bread, cake, po-
tatoes, and fat pork picked up about camp. (Bailey.)

TOWNSEND'S SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS TOWNSENDI (Bachman)

Spermophilus townsendii Bachm. Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil.
1839, p. 61.

Description — Ears obsolete; tail cylindrical, very short,
with the hair, scarcely twice the length of hind feet. Above,
dark brown, with numerous obsolete and crowded light
spots ; belly whitish. Length about 7 inches ; tail less than
2 inches; hind foot, 1:30. (Baird.)

Distribution — Nebraska westward to the plains of the
Columbia River and from Wyoming and Utah to Montana,
Idaho and Oregon.

KENNICOTT'S SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS MOLLIS (Kennicott)

Spermophilus mollis Kennicott. Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil.
1863, p. 158.

Description — Form stout; muzzle short, compressed,
ears rudimentary ; feet large, claws weak, compressed. Above

MAMMALS OF UTAH

49

variegated silvery gray, yellowish brown and black under
parts silvery gray washed with creamy yellow. Tail above
yellowish brown, mixed with black, bordered and tipped with
white; below reddish brown fringed with white. (Elliot.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Camp
Floyd, Utah ; and though it extends into Nevada the exact
range of this spermophile is not fully determined.

ARMED SPERMOPHILE

(/^ \ r CITELLUS ARMATUS (Kennicott)

Spermophilus armatus Kennicott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien, Phil.
1863, p. 158.

Description — Stout; ears large; feet large; tail short,
bushy; pelage soft. Above dark gray and black, washed
with brown on middle of the back; shoulders, rump and
thighs ochraceous brown. Under parts silvery gray tinged
with yellowish, dark bases of hairs showing through. Tail,
above and below mixed gray and black, subterminal black
border, and black tip edged with gray. (Elliot.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Fort
Bridger, Utah, though the geographic distribution of this
spermophile includes parts of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and
Montana, the precise range having as yet been undeter-
mined.

ELEGANT SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS ELEGANS (Kennicott)

Spermophilus elegans Kennicott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil.
1863, p. 158.

Spermophilus richardsoni var. townsendi Allen, Mon. Rod.
1877, p. 848 (nec. Bachm.).

Description — Upper parts brown, with an indistinct
mottled or spotted appearance caused by the tips of the hairs
being black; in some lights the animal seems to be trans-
versely crossed by narrow irregular wavy black lines ; top of
head like but without the spotted appearance ; caused by the
tips of the hairs being black ; in some lights the animal seems
to be transversely crossed by narrow irregular wavy black

50

MAMMALS OF UTAH

lines ; top of head like back but without the spotted ap-
pearance ; sides, flanks, and upper surface of feet pale ful-
vous; underparts (except chin) a somewhat paler shade of
fulvous ; chin whitish ; light whitish buff ring around eye ;
tail above mixed brown and black, tip black edged with whit-
ish; below brown or fulvous, about like sides, with black
tip. Specimens in spring, in worn pelage, are somewhat
grayer and paler. Total length, 10.8; tail vert. 3.0; hmd
foot, 1.75. (Warren.)

Distribution— The type locality of this species is Fort
Bridger, Wyoming and its range includes the northeastern
part of Utah

UTAH SPERMOPHILE

CITELLUS VARIEGATUS UTAH (Merriam)

Citellus variegatus utah, Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XVI,
1903, p. 77.

Description — Like grammurus except that the rufous is
somewhat darker and more intense. The tail is somewhat
longer in proportion.

Distribution — The type locality of this species is the
foot of the Wasatch mountains, near Ogden, Utah. It ex-
tends eastward to Colorado, being found only in these two
states.

Habits — The habits of utah are the same as those of
grammurus.

ROCK SQUIRREL

CITELLUS VARIEGATUS GRAMMURUS (Say)

Sciurus grammurus Say, in Long's Exped. Rocky Mts. TI,
p. 72, 1823.

Spermophilus grammurus, Bach. Charlesworth's Mag. Nat.
Hist., Ill, 1839, p. 390.

Description — Body thick, clumsy; about the size of
Sciurus cinereus; vertebrae of tail about three-fifths of
length of the body. Ears broad and high. Palms and
soles entirely smooth. The anterior half of the body, above
and on the sides, is of a rather pure black and white mixed,

MAMMALS OF UTAH

51

the subterminal portion being grayish white ; the basal and
terminal black. The basal fur above is black, laterally it
is of a bluish ash. On the posterior half of the body the
white is replaced by pale yellowish brown, and the black by
a dark brown. On the sides the colors are purer, the hairs
becoming lighter at the base in passing down the sides and
to the root of the tail. The under parts are of a pale ful-
vous white, changing into pale brownish yellow anteriorly,
posteriorly, and on the inner faces of the limbs, the hairs
being everywhere brown at the base, except on the last men-
tioned region. The top and sides of the head are grayish
white and black, mixed, the latter predominating. The eye-
lids are white; the exterior surface of the ear is brownish
yellow, as is the posterior border of the inner surface; the
remainder is dark brown. The tail is white and black, the
former predominating and constituting rather a broad border
all round ; there are three distinct rings of black, the outer
and sub-terminal one broadest. In some specimens the
white appears more or less soiled. Body about 12 inches;
tail with hairs 9; hind feet 2.25. (Baird.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Pur-
gatory river. Las Animas, Colorado. It extends into Utah
along the Grand River. Specimens have been taken from
the Book-Cliff mountain region.

Habits — Rock squirrels nearly always live in rocky
situations, such as the ledges and boulder-strewn sides of
canyons, the bare rocky slopes along the base of the foot-
hills, and the rim rock of outlying mesas and buttes being
especially frequented. Rock squirrels are quite shy and
wary, and when one is surprised in the bottom of a canyon,
as is often the case, it invariably runs up the slope and
takes refuge among the rocks above. If the observer re-
mains perfectly quiet, he may at length detect the animal
peering silently over the top of a large boulder, but it gen-
erally vanishes at the slightest noise or motion. I watched
one of these squirrels dusting itself near Bayfield. Ap-
parently it was unaware of my presence and at intervals
would run to a dusty spot in a path, throw the dust up with
its fore feet, turn on its back, and wriggle and squirm along
the ground in the greatest enjoyment. This performance
was repeated a number of times, when suddenly the little
fellow spied me and raced off through the brush. The food
of rock squirrels consists chiefly of pinyon nuts, acorns, and
juniper berries, and consequently over much of their range
the animals do little damage. (Gary.)

52

MAMMALS OF UTAH

WHITE-TAILED PRAIRIE-DOG

CYNOMYS LEUCURUS (Merriam)

Cynomys columbianus Allen, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist.,
XVI, p. 294 (part; not Arctomys columbianus Ord. 1815).
1874.

Cynomys leucurus Merriam, North Amer. Fauna No. 3, p. 59,
September 11; North Amer. Fauna No. 4, p. 33, October 8,
1890.

Cynomys lewisii Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. X, p. 456,
November 10, (not Arctomys lewisii Audubon and Bach-
man, 1854) 1898.

Cynomys lewisi Trouessart, Cat. Mamm., suppl., p. 342. 1904.

Description — Adult in fresh summer pelage: General
color of upper parts yellowish buff, streaked with blackish.
Nose yellowish buff, unmarked; spot above eye and large
area on cheek dark blackish brown ; ears pale cinnamon. Top
of head to center of tail uniformly mixed pale cinnamon-buff
or yellowish buff and blackish ; the individual hairs black at
bases, then light gray, then pale cinnamon, with subterminal
band of buff and, in unworn condition, tip of blackish. Limbs,
feet, and underparts clear buf f y ; nails blackish, tipped with
light horn. Tail white, the hairs of proximal half above with
bands of blackish, below pale cinnamon; distal half clear
white. Adult in fresh winter pelage : Decidedly darker than
in summer ; m^re blackish above, especially posteriorly ; the
buff tints richer in tone and the dark areas on head consid-
erably spread out, less sharply defined. There is a heavy
underfur of grayish white, but the bases of all the hairs are
clear black ; sides of nose, chin, and throat white ; nape and
flanks lighter, more grayish, than back and rump. Juvenile
pelage : Above grayish brown ; below paler grayish ; supra-
orbital spot of brownish black sharply marked. Postjuvenile
pelage : Specimens in first fresh autumnal coat darker than
adults, more reddish, and hairs of upper parts more heavily
tipped with blackish. Adults in the faded, left-over winter
coat are often very yellowish above, with little or no black
streaking from the hair tips. Many specimens in various
stages of molt and renewal present strange combinations
of color. Examples deeply stained by color from the soil are
frequently noted. (Hollister.)

Distribution — Irregular areas in the mountainous parts
of Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. In this state it
occurs mostly in the extreme northern part and in the Green
River Valley. Specimens have been taken in the Uinta
mountains and in the Uncompahgre Indian reservation.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

53

Map No. 10.— (Lined area) Range of Zuni Prairie Dog (CYNOMYS GUNNI-
SONI ZUNIENSIS) in Utah. (Double line area) Range of Utah Prairie
Dog (CYNOMYS PARVIDENS Allen) in Utah. (Dotted area) Range of
White-tailed Prairie Dog (CYNOMYS LEUCURUS Merriam) in Utah.
Based on Map by N. Hollister.

54

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Habits — The White-tailed Prairie Dogs are very injur-
ious to green crops, as they frequently destroy cabbages,
cantelopes and other truck farm products. They do consid-
erable damage to range grasses and alfalfa fields. While
eating they sit erect on their hind legs, but if disturbed, run
to their burrows, carrying the food in their mouths. (Gary.)

Owing to the constant danger to which they are sub-
ject from coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and badgers, in addition
to eagles and other birds of prey, prairie dogs are con-
stantly on the alert. At any suspicious occurrence the first
to observe it runs to his entrance mound, if the danger is
not pressing, but otherwise to the nearest mound, where he
sits up at his full length, "barking" and vibrating his tail,
ready, if necessary, to disappear instantly. At the same
time the **town" is alive with scurrying figures of the in-
habitants rushing to their homes. (Nelson.)

UTAH PRAIRIE-DOG

CYNOMYS PARVIDENS (Allen)

Cynomys parvidens Allen, Science Bull., Mus. Brooklyn Inst.
Arts and Sci., I, No. 5, p. 119, March 31, 1905.

Description — Adult in late summer : Entire upper parts
of head and body cinnamon or dark buffy cinnamon, with
very little admixture of buff or blackish hairs ; the individual
hairs blackish at bases, then narrowly pale buff, broadly
cinnamon, and tipped with dark brown. Spot of black above
eye very sharply marked ; cheek patch of brown distinct ;
sides of nose pale buff ; eye ring ,ears, and limbs cinnamon ;
feet dark buff ; lips and chin whitish ; underparts buffy or
cinnamon. Tail for half its length above concolor with
rump ; below cinnamon terminal half all around white, with-
out markings. Adults in early winter pelage: In general
like summer coat but with dense underfur which is black at
base, then light buff; upper parts rich cinnamon, the long
hairs with broad bands of black and buff ; sides of body yel-
lowish buff, distinctly marked from color of back, and
streaked by the bands of black on the longer overlying hairs.

Distribution — Mountain valleys of central Utah in the
Sevier River region ; south from Nephi to Iron and Garfield
counties. Several specimens have been taken from Buck-
skin Valley and the Sevier National Forest.

i

MAMMALS OF UTAH

55

ZUNI PRAIRIE-DOG

CYNOMYS GUNNISONI ZUNIENSIS (HoUister)

Cynomys Gunnisoni Zuniensis — Hollister, N. A. Fauna, No. 40,
1916, p. 32.

Description — Adult in fresh summer pelage: General
color of upperparts pale cinnamon, heavily streaked with
lighter cinnamon-buff and blackish; individual hairs blackish
at bases, then narrowly buff, then broadly cinnamon, with
subterminal band of buff, and tip of blackish. Nose, lips, eye
ring, and ears, buff; between eyes, between ears, and over
nape darker brown, mixed with blackish ; large area of black-
ish brown on cheek, and a smaller, sharply marked, blackish
brown spot above eye; feet, limbs, and underparts pale cin-
namon-buff. Basal half of tail above concolor with back;
distal half mixed gray and white, bordered and tipped with
clear white. The black tips to the hairs of the back rapidly
wear away and the pelage becomes a uniform dull cinnamon,
mixed with light buff. The distinctive markings of the
head become more obscure. Adult in fresh full winter pe-
lage: General color more grayish and buff, less cinnamon,
than in summer, with greater admixture of blackish hairs on
head and more of white and gray on body. General color of
upper parts dark cream-buff, heavily mixed with pale buff
and blackish, giving a decided grizzled appearance; under-
fur narrowly black, then broadly whitish; the long hairs
with bands of black, pale cinnamon, and white, and narrow
tips of black. Top of head and cheeks heavily intermixed
with blackish, the spot over eye sometimes intense black;
sides of nose, eye rings, ears, limbs and sides of body rich
cream-buff ; lips and throat paler ; underparts pale cinnamon.
Tail above mixed gray and white, with a narrow sub-border
of dark gray and border of clear white ; below clear pale cin-
namon, terminal half with faint sub-border of grayish brown
and border and tip of creamy white. Young examples in the
fresh post juvenile pelage are more vinaceous or pinkish cin-
namon than the corresponding pelage of C. g. gunnisoni.
(Hollister.)

Distribution — Extreme southeastern Utah.

While in the main an Upper Sonoran form, this prairie-
dog is generally distributed in the Transition Zone parks of
numerous mountain ranges.

56

MAMMALS OF UTAH

^^.^r^;Jh;:::!^^^^^ ^^^^^ Range of Engelhardt Marmot (MARMOTA FLA
yiVENTRIS ENGELHARDTI Allen) in Utah. Dotted area) Range o
Golden-mantled Marmot (MARMOTA FLAVIVENTRIS NOSOPHOR.
Howell.) Based on map of A. H. Howell and records by Claude T. Barne!

MAMMALS OF UTAH

57

ENGELHARDT MARMOT: HOARY
MARMOT

MARMOTA FLAVIVENTRIS ENGLEHARDTI (Allen)

Marmota engelhardti Allen, Mus. Brooklyn Inst. Arts & Sci.,
Sci. BuL, I, 1905, p. 120.

Description — General tone of upper parts vandyke
brown, grizzled with buff y white ; underf ur fuscous at base
succeeded by pinkish buff or pinkish cinnamon, the latter
shading on sides to Rood's brown ; long hairs blackish brown,
tipped with light buff or buf fy white ; top of head and face
blackish brown, with an irregular white patch in front of
eyes ; sides of head mixed brown and buf f y white ; sides of
neck with a small area of ochraceous-buf f ; legs and feet
hazel, tail abov^ dark clove brown, tipped with hazel; be-
neath, blackish brown; underparts hazel or ochraceous-
tawny, the bases of hairs blackish brown ; sides of nose, lips,
and chin, white.

Distribution — Beaver and Parowan mountains; south-
ern Utah; also Midvale, Idaho. Exact limits of range un-
known. The type locality of this species is Briggs meadow,
Beaver range, Utah. (Altitude 10,000 feet.) Several speci-
mens have been taken from Beaver mountains and Parowan
mountains.

Brigham Spencer informs me that woodchucks are quite
numerous in Wayne, Garfield, Emery, Grand and San Juan
counties. B. E. Mattsson says woodchucks are numerous in
the Manti forest, while J. W. Humphrey of Panguitch in-
forms me that they may be found by the hundreds on all
portions of the Sevier forest. George E. Barney of Esca-
lante reports that they are numerous in the lava beds of the
Escalante forest district. C. A. Mattsson of Salina writes
as follows : "The immense lava deposits which extend south
of the Salina creek watershed to the extreme southern boun-
dary of the Fishlake forest provide a suitable habitat for
woodchucks. These animals are numerous in these lava beds
and are often seen by persons riding the range. The homes
of the woodchuck in this localitj^ is on areas having an ele-
vation of over 7,500 feet, and they are most numerous in
the lava beds having an elevation of about 8,000 feet." S. B.
Locke says they are well distributed in the high LaSal
mountains.

Habits — Though a forest animal, the woodchuck never-
theless prefers the edges of sunny openings to the dismal
depths of the woodland ; and in Utah he burrows almost ex-

58

MAMMALS OF UTAH

clusively in high dry places, the verdant clay banks and the
wooded gravelly ridges of the upper mountains. While prov-
ender is good the woodchuck ordinarily does not stroll more
than one hundred yards from home, though at times when
food is scarce he may in the day or at night go a mile or
more to new fields. This is the only .migration known of the
species.

When chased the woodchuck rushes into its burrow, digs
a new side tunnel and fills the entrance behind him. He is a
most sanitary animal for, during the winter, all excrement
is hidden in a dry earth chamber in the den, and, in summer,
a midden heap as big as a half bushel measure is gradually
formed at the entrance to the burrow.

Seldom, except during the voluptuous activity of early
spring, does a grown woodchuck have any adult companions
in the burrow. Mating takes place in the middle of March,
though there is some evidence of pairing in the autumn.

The young, two to eight, but usually four or five, are
born in April and are blind until one month old. Being full
grown at the end of August they issue forth and build a
number of holes near by.

In the autumn old and young prepare for winter by eat-
ing until they are so fat that they can hardly waddle. The
winter nests are warmly lined but no food is stored away in
them. Towards the last of September the woodchucks curl
up in winter sleep, never emerging except in exceptional
weather.

Being partial to twilight the woodchuck rambles usually
when the moon is shining. He is slow on foot and in an
emergency relies on reaching his burrow. He can climb a
tree though not so cleverly as can a porcupine, or squirrel,
and never without a running start. He swims poorly and
like a rabbit does not drink, depending on dews and plant
juices.

. When cornered a woodchuck will whistle an alarm, and
grate its teeth so hard that splinters may fall.

GOLDEN-MANTLED MARMOT

MARMOTA FLAVIVENTRIS NOSOPHORA (Howell)

Marmota flaviventer nosophora, Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash-
ington, XXVII, 1914, p. 15.

Description — Underfur of upper parts at base blackish
brown on forepart of body, becoming fuscous on hinder

MAMMALS OF UTAH

59

parts, succeeded by a broad area of whitish buff (tilleul
buff of Ridgway) shading (on hinder back) to pinkish cin-
namon or pale russet ; long hairs black subterminally, broad-
ly tipped on forepart of back with warm or ochraceous-buff
and on hinder part with white or buff y white ; top and sides
of head blackish brown, with a conspicuous band of white
or buffy white across face in front of eyes; sides of face
mixed with cinnamon or white ; sides of nose, lips, and chin
white or buffy white; sides of neck with ochraceous-buff
patches behind ears ; fore legs kaiser brown ; hind legs and
rump warm buff; hind feet hazel to russet; tail chestnut-
brown or blackish brown, varied with hazel or cinnamon-buff
(fading to dull cinnamon or clay color) ; underparts hazel
shaded with kaiser brown, becoming bright chestnut on
throat and sometimes on belly. Variation : A dark, brown-
ish color-phase occurring rarely, and seemingly most fre-
quent at high altitudes, may be described as follows : General
tone of upper parts dark brown grizzled with white ; under-
fur at base mouse gray (shading on hinder back to fuscous)
succeeded by buffy white (shading on hinder back to light
pinkish cinnamon) ; long hairs blackish brown, tipped with
white; top and sides of head blackish brown; underparts
mixed blackish brown and pinkish buff in about equal pro-
portions; throat shaded with russet; feet and tail blackish
brown ; legs brownish mixed with ochraceous-tawny. (How-
ell.)

Distribution — Rocky mountain region of Montana,
Idaho, and Wyoming, from Flathead Lake, Mont., south to
the Wasatch mountains, Utah, and east to the Bighorn
mountains, Wyo. ; altitudinal range from about 3,000 to
11,800 feet. Specimens have been taken in Utah from
Blacksmith's Fork, Laketown and Park City. This species
intergrades with engelhardti. They are quite common in
the Wasatch mountains.

Habits — The Golden-Mantled Marmot is in this State
known usually as the woodchuck, rockchuck or groundhog.
It lives usually on rocky hillsides, in the crevices of cliffs, or
beneath rock piles in meadows. The flesh of this animal is
palatable. It subsists chiefly on grass, tender leaves and
the stems of native plants. ''Groundhog day" is a myth
based on no scientific facts.

Map No. 12.— Range of Soncran Beaver (CASTOR CANADENSIS FRON-
DATOR Mearns) in Utah. Based on records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

61

Family CASTORIDAE. Beavers

SONORAN BEAVER: BROAD-TAILED
BEAVER

CASTOR CANADENSIS FRONDATOR (Mearns)

Castor Canadensis Frondator, Mearns, Pros. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
1897, p. 502.

Description — Above, dark red brown, bright and glossy
in certain lights, under fur dusky black; sides and head
paler; upper surfaces of feet chocolate; underparts simi-
lar, but a somewhat lighter shade. Total length, 41.5;
tail vert., 14.0; hind foot, 7.2; scaly portion of tail, 11.3x4.8.

Distribution — The beaver was undoubtedly at one time
very common in the State of Utah. Mr. George B. Hancock
informs me that many old dams now exist on Hunt Creek,
a branch on the east fork of the Sevier River, Garfield
county. A few are still to be found, according to B .E. Matts-
son, in Fish and Huntington creeks, Manti forest. J. W.
Humphrey of Panguitch says : 'The beaver under the pro-
tection afforded them by the state have become so numer-
ous on the headwaters of the Sevier river that they are some-
what of a nuisance and do considerable damage along the
canals." E. C. Shepard says that there are a few in Logan
canyon. William M. Anderson of Vernal informs me : "Bea-
.ver are very plentiful. There are thousands of them on the
streams. To such an extent are they increasing that it has
become necessary to trap them out in some instances."
Though many streams of the Fishlake forest are named after
the beaver, none exist there now according to C. A. Matts-
son. ■ George H. Barney of Escalante reports that there are
a few on North Coyote, Mamie, and Boulder creeks in the
Escalante forest. There are three colonies, the remainder
being individuals. A. W. Jensen of Provo estimates that
there are 400 beavers in the Uintah forest district.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall informs me that he has seen the
fresh workings of the beaver in nearly all of the streams of
the Wasatch mountains and that the animals are very com-
mon in Gooseberry Creek at the head of the Weber river.
They are also reported as building a dam at Upper Falls in
Provo canyon where thousands of fishermen visit in the
summer.

S. B. Locke says that beavers occur along LaSal creek
and tributaries on the east side of the LaSal mountains
into Colorado. They there interfere to some extent with
irrigation works.

62

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Family MURIDAE. Rats, Mice, Voles
Subfamily MAURINAE

BLACK RAT

MUS RATTUS (Linn)

Mus rattus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1758, p. 61; Elliot,
F. C. M., 11, 1901, p. 117, fig. 28 (skull), Syn. Mam. N.
Am. IV, 1904, p. 163, fig. 31 (skull), fig. 25 (animal);
Miller and Rehn, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XXX, No. 1,
Dec. 27, 1901, p. 56.

Description — The black rat is usually of a sooty or
plumbeous black color, paler on the underpart.

Distribution — The black rat now appears in nearly all
of the older portions of Salt Lake City and adjacent low-
lands. It is especially common along the Jordan river and
in the western part of the city. Its range is gradually ex-
tending. It everywhere does damage of almost every con-
ceivable type, its ravages on the poultry farms being particu-
larly noticeable.

NORWAY RAT: BROWN RAT

MUS NORVEGICUS (Erxleben)

Mus norvegicus Erxleben, Syst. Regn. Anim., 1777, p. 381.
Mus decumanus Pall., Nov. Sp. Quad. Glir., 1778, p. 91.

Description — The brown rat differs from the other two
species in America in larger size, shorter head, more obtuse
muzzle, smaller ears, and relatively shorter tail. The general
color is grayish brown above and whitish below. The over-
hairs of the upper parts have black tips. The tail is usually
shorter than the head and body combined, while in the
other two species it is generally longer. Total length, 12.0 ;
tail vert., 5.6; hind foot, 1.5. (Lantz.)

Distribution — The brown rat has unfortunately of re-
cent years become very common in Salt Lake City; and its
range is gradually extending along railway lines.

Habits — The marvelous rapidity with which brown rats
increase is shown from the fact that nests, though usually
containing about eight young, have been found with twenty-
three young ones in them; and a new litter is brought in

MAMMALS OF UTAH

63

every seventy-five days under the most favorable condi-
tions. Young females have been known to have their first
litter when only 103 days old. It has been estimated that
under ideal conditions the uninterrupted breeding of a single
pair of rats would in three years' time result in the incredible
number of 20,185,392 individuals. Of course, such results
never happen in nature where various enemies are con-
stantly to be considered ; but it is sufficient warning to those
who have heretofore paid no attention to the increase of
brown rats in Utah.

These facts should be borne in mind by everyone : Bu-
bonic plague in man is entirely dependent on the disease in
the rat ; the infection is conveyed from rat to rat and from
rat to man by means of the rat flea ; insanitary conditions
have no relation to the occurrence of the plague except so
far as they favor the infestation by rats.

Skunks, weasels and minks destroy rats ; and rat-proof
buildings can easily be constructed, the concrete footing be-
ing the most important factor. Rats are practically omniv-
orous, a few of the things they readily devour being the fol-
lowing: seeds, grain, flour, meal, food, fruit, vegetables,
mushrooms, bark, bulbs, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, eggs,
chicks, ducklings, young pigeons, rabbits, milk, butter,
cheese, meat, carrion, mice, rats, fish, frogs, and mussels.
(Lantz.)

Before it is too late every effort should be spent to
eradicate this pest, for one must not forget the millions of
dollars it cost San Francisco to overcome them.

HOUSE MOUSE

MUS MUSCULUS (Linnaeus)
Mus musculus Linn., Syst. Nat. I, 1758, p. 62; I, 1766, p. 83.

Description — Above, grayish brown (mouse color) , lined
with blackish ; beneath, ashy plumbeous, tinged with reddish.
Tail dusky ; feet ashy brown. Total length, 6.5 ; tail vert.
3.2; hind foot, 0.70. (Warren.)

Distribution — The house mouse is common in all set-
tled vicinities of the State.

64

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Subfamily CRICETINAE

BLACK-BROWED MOLE MOUSE

ONYCHOMYS MELANOPHRYS (Merriam)

Onychomys leucogaster melanophrys Merr., N. Am. Faun.

No. 2, 1889, p. 2.
Onychomys melanophrys Elliot, Mamm. Middle Amer. & W.

Indies, F. C. M. Pub., IV, Pt. I, 1904, p. 166. Zool. Ser.

Description— Hind foot densely furred to base of toes.
Color above, rich tawny cinnamon, well mixed with black-
tipped hairs on the back, and brightest on the sides ; a dis-
tinct black ring round the eye, broadest above. This rmg
is considerably broader and more conspicuous than the very
narrow ring of leucogaster. (Merriam.)

Distribution— The type specimen of this species was
collected at Kanab, Utah, December 22, 1888, by Vernon
Bailey. The exact limits of its range are unknown. Doctor
Merriam calls it the Black-eyed Grashopper Mouse.

LONG-TAILED GRASSHOPPER MOUSE

ONYCHOMYS LONGICAUDUS (Merriam)

Onychomys longicaudus Merr., N. Amer. Faun, No. 2, 1889,
p. 2.

Description — General color above, cinnamon-fawn, well
mixed with black-tipped hairs.

Distribution — The type specimen of this species was
taken at St. George, Utah, January 4th, 1889, by Vernon
Bailey. The limits of its range are unknown.

Habits — The grasshopper mice are notable for the deli-
cate coloring and velvety quality of their fur. While closely
resembling some of the white-footed mice, they may readily
be distinguished from^ them by more robust form, short,
thick tail, and the character of the fur. They live in burrows
and sometimes evade the labor of digging them by occupying
the deserted holes of mice, kangaroo rats, ground squirrels,
prairie dogs, badgers and other animals. Their bill of fare
includes a miscellaneous assortment of several species of

MAMMAL'S OF UTAH

65

mice, including their own kind caught in traps, small dead
birds, lizards, frogs, cutworms, scorpions, mole crickets, or-
dinary crickets, grasshoppers, moths, flies, and beetles, in-
cluding the potato bug. In addition to these, they eat seeds,
fruits and vegetable matter.

TAWNY FIELD MOUSE

PEROMYSCUS RUFINUS (Merriam)

Hesperomys leucopus rufinus Merr., N. Am. Faun. No. 3,
1890, p. 65.

Peromyscus rufinus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.

Pub. 11, 1901, p. 126.
Hesperomys leucopus sonoriensis, Mearns, Bull. Am. Mus.

Nat. Hist., 11, Art. XX, Feb. 21, 1890, p. 284.

Description — Upper parts, deep tawny brown, darkest
along the middle of the back, and brightest along the sides,
the body color reaching to the elbows and heels ; under parts
including feet, white; tail, sharply bicolor, dusky above,
whitish below; ears dark. (Merriam.)

Distribution — Northwestern Arizona to New Mexico,
Utah, and Colorado.

Habits — This beautiful mouse is actually a forest ani-
mal, living in the pine, aspen and Douglas spruce woods.
It frequents camps and cabins.

SUBARCTIC FIELD MOUSE

PEROMYSCUS TEXENSIS SUBARCTICUS (Allen)

Peromyscus texanus subarcticus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat.

Hist. N. Y., 1899, p. 15.
Peromyscus texensis subarcticus Elliot Syn. N. Am. Mamm.

F. C. M. Pub. ii, 1901, p. 131.

Description — Above dusky brown, tinged with pale ful-
vous, blackish on median line ; fulvous on flanks ; feet and
under parts white. Tail above blackish brown, sides and
beneath white. (Elliot.)

Distribution — From Utah and Colorado, through Wyo-
ming, the Dakotas and Montana to the Saskatchewan Val-
ley, Alberta.

66

MAMMALS OF UTAH

ROWLEY CLIFF MOUSE: ROWLEY'S
FIELD MOUSE

PEROMYSCUS BOYLEII ROWLEYI (Allen)

Sitomys rowleyi Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y.
1893, p. 76.

Peromyscus rowleyi Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub., II, 1901, p. 134. Zool. Ser.

Description — Above, brown, dorsal region with many
black and a few white hairs intermixed. Upper surface of
the tail like the back. Feet and under parts white. Total
length, 7.25; tail vert., 3.6; hind foot, 0.8. (Warren.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Nolan's
Ranch, San Juan County, Utah. The species occurs through-
out southeastern Utah.

Habits — The Rowley Cliff mouse inhabits rock ledges
and cliffs in the juniper belt, its food consisting chiefly of
juniper berries.

GOLDEN-BREASTED MOUSE: GOLDEN-
BREASTED CANYON MOUSE

PEROMYSCUS CRINITUS AURIPECTUS (Allen)

Sitomys auripectus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y.
1893, p. 75.

Peromyscus auripectus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub., II, 1901, p. 134. Zool. Ser.

Description — Hair long and silky ; above bright buff or
tawny, lightest on the sides and flanks, a slight admixture of
black hairs in the dorsal region. Feet and under parts
white, except yellow spot on breast between fore legs. Tail
with distinct pencil; upper part quite dark. Total length,
6.8; tail vert., 3.5; hind foot, 0.8. (Warren.)

Distribution — The type locality of this beautiful mouse
is Bluff City, Utah, on the San Juan River. It inhabits
the rock ledges and cliffs in much of the rough canyon
and mesa country. (Cary.)

Habits — The Golden-breasted canyon mouse, easily dis-
tinguished by its yellow breast spot, inhabits ledges and
cliffs in the canyon and mesa district in southeastern Utah.

1

MAMMALS OF UTAH

67

TRUE'S MOUSE: TRUE'S DEER MOUSE

PEROMYSCUS TRUEI (Shufeldt)

Hesperomys truei Shufeldt, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p.

407, pi. XXI, figs. 1, 5, 8.
Peromyscus truei Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub.,

II, 1901, p. 139. Zool. Ser.

Description — Fur moderately long and silky. Upper
parts a pale brown, darkest on back caused by a slight mix-
ture of black hairs. Feet and under parts white. Tail with
distinct pencil; upper part blackish. Ears very large, 1.0
in specimen described. Total length, 7.25; tail vert., 3.5;
hind foot, 0.95. (Warren.)

Distribution — True's mouse is found throughout Ne-
vada, Utah and New Mexico, its range being practically co-
extensive with the juniper and piny on belt.

Habits — True's deer-mouse, easily distinguished by its
protruding eyes and immense ears, inhabits rocky places and
subsists chiefly on juniper berries, seeds and insects.

DESERT HARVEST MOUSE

REITHRODONTOMYS MEGALOTIS MEGALOTIS (Baird)

Reithrcdcn megalotis Baird, Mamm. N. Am., 1857, p. 451.
Reithrodcntomys megalotis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.

V. 1893, p. 79; VII, 1895, p. 125.
Reithrcdontomys megalotis deserti Allen, Bull, Am. Mus. Nat.

Hist. VII, 1895, p. 127 (Oasis Valley, Nev.).
Reithrodontomys megalotis sestinensis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus.

Nat. Hist. XIX, 1903, p. 602, (Rio Sestin, northwestern

Durango).

Description — Color, unworn winter pelage : upper parts
mixed blackish brown and light ochraceous-buff, darkest in
middle of back, shading to nearly pure buff on sides; feet
and underparts white ; tail hair-brown above, whitish below ;
ears drab, usually with a tuft of ochraceous-buff hairs at
base. Unworn summer pelage : Similar to the fresh winter
pelage, but colors less strongly contrasted and black varia-
tions of upper parts much reduced. Worn spring and sum-
mer pelage : General tone browner and colors less contrasted

Map No. 13.— (Lined area) Range of Desert Harvest Mouse (REITHRODON
TOMYS MEGALOTIS MEGALOTIS Baird) in Utah. (Dotted area)
Range of Aztec Harvest Mouse (REITHRODONTOMYS MEGALOTIS
AZTECUS Allen). Based on map of A. H. Howell.

I

MAMMALS OF UTAH

69

than in the winter pelage, the buff on sides less pronounced
and often lacking. (Howell.)

Distribution— The west half of Utah.

Habits — The food of the harvest mouse consists mostly
of seeds, grain, green vegetation, and some fruit. Mr. C. W.
Seegmiller, of St. George, Utah, states that he has known
the harvest mice to do some damage by climbing grain stalks
and cutting off the heads. He has found their nests built
several feet from the ground in close-growing clusters of
grain stalks. (Howell.)

AZTEC HARVEST MOUSE

REITHRODONTOMYS MEGALOTIS AZTECUS (Allen)

Reithrodontomys aztecus Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. V.
1893, p. 79.

Description — Characters — Similar to megalotis but with
larger ears and skull. Color — Not appreciably different from
that of megalotis; ears sometimes with irregular dusky
blotches. (Howell.)

Distribution — This species ranges throughout northern
New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah and
western Colorado, north as far as Grand Junction. Speci-
mens have been taken from Bluff City and Nolan's ranch
on the San Juan river.

Habits — The habits of this species are the same as
those of megalotis.

The harvest mice are pre-eminently field mice. Practi-
cally all the known species live in more or less open, grassy
situations and are partial to neglected fields, with grasses
or sedges and to weedy and grassy borders of cultivated
tracts. Some species, and perhaps all, construct substantial
nests of grasses, often lined with soft materials and placed
either on the ground or in vines, bushes, or low trees some
distance above the ground. All the species live chiefly
above ground, but burrows are also used. (Howell.)

70

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 14.— Distribution of Desert Wood Rat (NEOTOMA DESERTORU]
Merriam) in Utah. Based on map of E. A. Goldman.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

71

Subfamily NEOTOMINAE— Wood Rats.

DESERT WOOD RAT

NEOTOMA DESERTORUM (Merriam)

Neotoma desertorum Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. IX,
pp. 125-126, July 2, 1894. Type from Furnace Creek,
Death Valley, Inyo County, Cal.; No. 25739/33139, male
adult, U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biol. Sur. Collection); collected
by T. S. Palmer, January 31, 1891.

Neotoma bella Bangs, Proc. New Eng. Zool. Club, I, pp. 66-67,
July 31, 1899. Type from Palm Springs, Riverside County,
Cal.; No. 5308, male adult, collection of E. A. and O.
Bangs; collected by E. C. Thurber, April 12, 1896.

Neotoma nevadensis Taylor, Univ. Cal. Pub. Zool. V, pp. 289-
296, pis. 27-29, February 12, 1910. Type from Virgin
Valley, Humboldt County, Nevada; No. 8282, female,
Univ. of Cal. Mus. of Vertebrate Zoology; collected by
Annie M. Alexander, May 17, 1909.

Description — Fresh pelage: Upper parts pale pinkish
buffy, purest on cheeks and sides, becoming creamy buff
on middle of face, moderately darkened dorsally by blackish
hairs; feet and underparts white, the belly in some speci-
mens more or less suffused with pinkish buff; sides of
neck pinkish buff, this color sometimes spreading across
throat; tail varying from grayish brown to blackish above,
white below. (Goldmxan.)

Distribution — Desert regions in California, Nevada,
eastern Oregon, northern and western Utah, ranging along
the Colorado River and Green River systems to the Colorado
line. Specimens have been taken in Utah from Fort Cam-
eron, Henry mountain, Kanab, Kelton, Little Pine valley,
Loa, Moccasin spring. Promontory, St. George and Santa
Clara.

Habits — Members of this genus live usually in rocky or
mountainous regions where cliffs, caves, crevices or over-
hanging shelves afford protection; but some species prefer
plains or bushy hillsides where they build large conical nests
of sticks and rubbish. The nests, which often appear even
besides cliffs, have from half to a dozen entrances, some
above, some below the surface of the ground. The runways
radiate fo the adjoining vegetation. All wood rats are ex-
pert climbers, some even building nests among the branches
of trees.

Wood rats are chiefly nocturnal in habits, their food
consisting of grass, fruit, bulbs, bark, seeds, nuts, and fungi.
Their enemies include owls, hawks, snakes, wild cats, coy-
otes, foxes, and probably weasels. They sometimes girdle
shrubs, injure growing crops and steal stored grain.

72

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 15. — (Lined area) Distribution of Gray Bushy-tailed Wood Rat
(NEOTOMA CINEREA Ord) in Utah. (Dotted area) Range of Cinna-
mon Bushy-tailed Wood Rat (NEOTOMA CINEREA OROLESTES Mer-
riam) in Utah.) (Double line area) Range of Arizona Wood Rat (NEO-
TOMA CINEREA ARIZONAE Merriam) in Utah. Based on maps of
E. A. Goldman.

i

MAMMALS OF UTAH

73

GRAY BUSHY-TAILED WOOD RAT

NEOTOMA CINEREA (Ord)

Mus cinereus Ord, Guthrie's Geog., 2d Amer. ed., II, p. 292,
1815. Type from Great Falls, Cascade County, Mont.:
"Based on the ash-colored rat of Rocky Mountains of
Lewis and Clark."

Neotoma cinerea Baird, Mamm. North Amer., p. 499, 1857.

Teonoma cinerea acraia Elliot, Pub. Field Columb. Mus. Zool.
Ser., Ill, pp. 247-248, December, 1903. Type from Hot
Springs, Long Canyon, Mount Whitney, Inyo County, Cal.;
No. 12850, female, Field Mus. of Nat. Hist., collected by
Edmund Heller, July 31, 1903.

Description — Fresh pelage: Upper parts grayish buff,
in some specimens varying to ochraceous buff, palest on
face, the back much darkened by admixture of dusky hairs ;
lower surface, including upper lip, white, the hairs along
sides of belly pale plumbeous basally; forefeet white, this
color insensibly passing over fore limbs into general color of
upper parts ; hind feet white ; color of hind legs reaching a
short distance over tarsus ; ears covered with brownish and
grayish hairs, and faintly edged with whitish; tail above
brownish gray, below white, usually crossed basally by a
pale buffy band. (Goldman.)

Distribution — Mountainous region of Montana, Idaho,
western Wyoming, Utah, northern Arizona, central Nevada
and central California. Specimens have been taken in Utah
from Beaver mountain. Blacksmith Fork, Cache county.
Fish Lake plateau,, Henry mountain, Ogden, Parowan and
Provo.

Habits — ^The presence of woodrats is generally indicated
by accumulations of odds and ends filling the crevices of
rocks about their retreats, or piled about the entrances to
their burrows, such accumulations including small sticks,
pieces of bark, leaves, cactus, burrs, bones, stones, and any
other small objects which may be found in the vicinity. In
northern localities they gather stores of pinyon or other
nuts, potatoes, corn, and other non-perishable food, conceal-
ing these supplies in cavities in the nests either above or be-
low the ground. They eat many kinds of fruits, seeds,
leaves, and other parts of plants, sometimes including bark
of shrubs or small trees and even cactus pads. They are
mainly nocturnal and appear to be extremely active through-
out the night.

74

MAMMALS OF UTAH

ARIZONA WOOD RAT

NEOTOMA CINERA ARIZONAE (Merriam)

Neotoma arizonae Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., VIII,
pp. 110-111, July 31, 1893. Type from Keam Canyon,
Apache County, Arizona; female adult, Merriam Collec-
tion; collected by J. Sullivan, May 21, 1888.

Description — Fresh pelage : Upper parts varying from
pale to bright ochraceous buff, purest along cheeks and
sides, thinly overlaid with dusky; feet and under parts
white; tail grayish brown above, white below. (Goldman.)

Distribution — Northeastern Arizona, southeastern
Utah, southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.
Specimens have been taken at Bluff City, Utah. It is said
that the pale coloration of arizonae is the result of its des-
ert environment.

CINNAMON BUSHY-TAILED
WOOD RAT

NEOTOMA CINEREA OROLESTES (Merriam)

Neotoma orolestes Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., IX, p. 128,
July 2, 1894. Type from Saguache Valley, 20 miles west
of Saguache, Saguache County, Colo.; collected by J.
Alden Loring, August 13, 1892.

Neotoma garangeri Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. VI,
pp. 325-326, November 7, 1894. Type from Custer, South
Dakota.

Neotoma cinnamonea Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. VII,
pp. 331-332, November 8, 1895.

Description — Color — Fresh pelage (October) : Upper
parts ochraceous buff, purest along sides, darkened over
back by blackish hairs ; head slightly paler ; under parts and
feet dull white, the hairs over pectoral and inguinal regions
white to roots ; tail above on proximal third grayish buff, be-
coming brownish buff on distal two-thirds ; below white with
a more or less distinct pale buffy band across base. Young
(about half grown) : Darker than in N. cinerea. (Goldman.)

Distribution — This species ranges mostly throughout
Wyoming and the greater part of Colorado, touching Utah
only in the extreme northeast, close to the Wyoming-Colo-
rado line.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

75

Subfamily MICROTINAE— Voles.

PEALEVOLE

MICROTUS MONTANUS (Peale)

Arvicola montanus Peale, U. S. Exploring Exp'd. Mam-
malogy, 44, 1848.

Arvicola longirostris Baird, Mamm. N. Amer. 530-531, 1857.
(From upper Pitt River, California.)

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts bister or
ashy mixed with blackish ; belly washed with soiled whitish,
giving a smoky gray or dusky color ; feet plumbeous ; tail
indistinctly bicolor, blackish above, plumbeous below; lips
usually showing a trace of whitish. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Northern Utah, Nevada, northeastern
California and eastern Oregon. Specimens have been taken
at Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo, Fairfield and Manti.

Habits — The voles are easily discovered by their tun-
nels and runways through the meadow grass. They build
bulky nests beneath the surface. Their food consists of
grass, bark, seeds, grain and some flesh ; and they do severe
damage throughout their range.

Voles seem to have no definite breeding season. Four to
eight young are usually produced at a birth, and in Utah
young may be found in the nests at all times of the year.
They form the principal food of nearly all hawks and some
owls, while weasels, minks, foxes, coyotes, cats, badgers,
skunks, and many other animals as well as some snakes, feed
on them. (Bailey.)

Among the snakes found in northern Utah, that feed on
these voles may be mentioned the following: the Desert
gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola), the red-
barred or Pacific garter snake (Thamnophis sir talis parie-
talis), the gray or wandering garter snake (Thamnophis or-
dinoides elegans) and the Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus ore-
gonus).

UTAH MEADOW VOLE

MICROTUS MONTANUS RIVULARIS (Bailey)

Microtus nevadensis rivularis Bailey, Biol. Soc. Wash., XII,
1898, p. 87.

Microtus montanus rivularis Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm.,
F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 184. Zool. Ser.

Description — Winter pelage: Upper parts dull bister,
darkened with blackish-tipped hairs; sides scarcely paler;

76

MAMMALS OF UTAH

belly washed with white; feet dull grayish; tail bicolor,
blackish above, grayish below. Young : Darker than adult,
but not black backed as in nevadensis. (Bailey.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is St.
George, Utah, where it inhabits the tule marshes along the
banks of the Virgin river. Its true extent is not known.

SA WATCH VOLE

MICROTUS PENNSYLVANICUS MODESTUS (Baird)

Arvicola modesta Baird, Mamm. N. Am., 535-536, 1857.
Arvicola insperatus Allen, Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 347, 1894
(Custer, S. Dak.).

Description — Summer pelage : Upper parts dull ochra-
ceous, darkened with black-tipped hairs; belly washed with
soiled whitish, smoky gray or pale cinnamon; feet plum-
beous; tail indistinctly bicolor, blackish above, dull grayish
below. Winter pelage : Much darkened above by long black
hairs, especially early in the season, later becoming paler
than in summer as the under-fur grows longer; belly heav-
ily washed with creamy white ; feet paler ; tail more sharply
bicolor. Young : Slightly less blackish than in pennsylvani-
cus. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Mountainous region from New Mexico to
British Columbia. Specimens have been taken at Ogden and
Salt Lake City, Utah. .

Habits — Cary found these meadow mice feeding exten-
sively upon the blossoms and leaves of the false Solomon's
Seal (Vagnera stellata) and fragments of the blossoms of a
species of Senecio.

DWARF VOLE

MICROTUS NANUS (Merriam)

Arvicola nanus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 5, 62-63, pi. II, figs. 5
and 6, July 30, 1891.

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts uniformly
grizzled gray mixed with sepia and blackish hairs; belly
washed with white ; feet grayish or plumbeous ; tail bicolor,

MAMMALS OF UTAH

77

dusky gray above, whitish below. (Winter pelage unknown).
Young: Similar to adult, but slightly duller throughout.
(Bailey.)

Distribution — Rocky Mountain and outlying ranges
from central Idaho southward to central Nevada, and south-
ern Colorado, in Canadian zone. Specimens have been taken
from the Uinta mountains.

Habits — This species inhabits the boreal zones, being
seen far above timberline on some of the mountain ranges.
It prefers dry, grassy parks on the higher mountain slopes.

CANTANKEROUS VOLE

MICROTUS MORDAX (Merriam)

Arvicola (Mynomes) mordax Merriam, N. A. F. No. 5, 61,
July 30, 1891.

Microtus vellerosus Allen, Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XII, 7,
March, 1899. (Liard River, Northwest Territory).

Microtus cautus Allen, Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XH, 7, March,
1899. (Hell Gate, Liard River, Northwest Territory.)

Description — Summer pelage: Back grayish bister;
sides olive gray ; belly washed with whitish ; nose dusky ; feet
plumbeous; tail dimly bicolor, dusky above, soiled whitish
below. Winter pelage: Lighter colored than in summer;
dorsal stripe of yellowish bister more sharply contrasted
with the deeper gray of sides and face ; belly heavily washed
with pure white ; tail sharply bicolor ; feet whitish. Young :
Darker, less sharply marked than the adults; feet and tail
dusky. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Rocky mountains and outlying ranges
from latitude 60 degrees to northern New Mexico, and south
in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada as far as Kaweah and
Kern rivers, California. Specimens have been taken at Lake-
town, Park City, and Barclay.

Habits — This species is abundant throughout the Cana-
dian and Hudsonian zones of the mountains, and follows
down cold streams in places through the Transition zones.
It is fond of forests and of cool, damp situations where the
vegetation is rank. (Cary.)

78

MAMMALS OF UTAH

BIG-FOOTED VOLE

MICROTUS RICHARDSONI MACROPUS (Merriam)

Arvicola macropus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 5, 59-60, 1891.

Description — Summer pelage : Upper parts dark sepia,
lined with long, black hairs; slightly paler on sides; belly
washed with silvery white; feet dusky gray, tail distinctly
bicolor throughout its length, sooty above, whitish below.
Winter pelage (imperfect in October and May specimens.)
Lighter, clearer gray above, black hairs less conspicuous,
more heavily washed with white below. Young : Like adult
or slightly darker, with long, woolly fur and dusky feet and
tail; during one stage of pelage with entirely dusky belly.
(Bailey.)

Distribution — Boreal zone of the Rocky mountains from
the Wasatch north to Canada, and most of the intermediate
ranges. Specimens have been taken from Park City.

PIGMY VOLE

MICROTUS PAUPERRIMUS (Cooper)

Arvicola pauperrima Cooper, Am. Nat. II, 535-536, Dec. 1868.

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts uniform
buff y gray, slightly darkened with dusky-tipped hairs ; ears
and nose strongly tinged with buff; belly pale buffy; tail
darkened above by a dusky line, buffy below ; feet like belly.
Young: Less buffy and slightly more dusky than adult.
(Bailey.)

Distribution — Eastern Washington and Oregon, central
Idaho, and the north slope of the Uinta mountains, Utah, in
Transition zone. All of the specimens thus far taken in Utah
are from the Uinta mountains.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN MUSKRAT

FIBER ZIBETHICUS OSOYOOSENSIS (Lord)

Fiber osoyoosensis Lord, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, I, 97,
1863.

Fiber zibethicus osoyoosensis Hollister, Proc. BioL Soc. Wash.
XXIII, I, 1910.

Description — Fresh pelage: Upper parts varying from
uniform glossy mummy brown to black ; slightly darker than

MAMMALS OF UTAH

79

in spatulatus; sides russet; under parts usually heavily col-
ored with cinnamon and dark russet or brown hairs ; throat
and ventral region lighter ; hips black. Worn pelage : Upper
parts dull sooty brown, sides and under parts paler, usually
with few rusty overlying hairs. Young: Seal brown, paler
beneath. (Hollister.)

Distribution — Southern British Columbia, Washington,
Idaho, and western Montana, south in the mountains to
northern New Mexico. Specimens have been taken at Utah
Lake, Ogden and Laketown. This species is found quite gen-
erally throughout northeastern Utah, being the common
muskrat of that vicinity. S. B. Locke reports that muskrats
are common in the LaSal mountains district.

Habits — Where the brook gurgles softly into the reed-
covered pond and surrounding willows protect from intrusion
ashore, the muskrat builds its home, depending summer and
winter upon the swampy waters for food, protection and
shelter. Even the entrance to the den is below the water
line, though, shortly, the passage ascends to a snug compart-
ment with an air hole leading up through accumulated rushes
and twigs.

Anatomically the muskrat is merely an immense mea-
dow mouse with a naked tail flattened on the sides.

A muskrat usually lives and dies in a single marshy
pond unless perchance the water is dried away ; and seldom,
indeed, does it go over a hundred yards from its hole.

More sociable than the rabbit, less so than the beaver,
muskrats usually join efforts to build a rat-house or lodge,
and at the approach of danger, the discoverer alarms its
companions with a splash of considerable loudness. If imper-
iled they frequently join forces, too, in fighting a common
enemy.

About the middle of April the species pair, much loud
snarling, squealing, and splashing being heard in the night-
time, some of the combatants' tails being either mangled or
chewed off. In thirty days from four to nine naked, blind,
helpless, young are born, which are suckled until three weeks
or a month old. As many as three litters are raised in a
year ; and from the manner in which the male assists in nest
building the species is thought to be monogamous.

In July the family begins to build the winter home.
Selecting a reed-surrounded strip of shallow water, they drag
mud, sticks and vegetation together until the pile is three or
four feet high, capped with rushes. As the roof caves in, it
is eaten away until finally a self-supporting dome is formed
ready to protect the occupants from the chill blasts of winter.

80

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 16.— (Dotted area) Range of Nevada Muskrat (FIBER ZIBETHI-
CUS MERGENS Hollister) in Utah. (Lined area) Range of Rocky
Mountain Muskrat (FIBER ZIBETHICUS OSOYOOSENSIS Lord) in
Utah. From map of N. Hollister.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

81

About this home the muskrats place at varying dis-
tances, little rafts of rushes, which serve as landing places
in summer and breathing holes in winter; for, as the rat
ventures afar under the ice in search of food, he must have
places where he can rest and eat a bit before exploring for
another piece of weed.

Vegetable matter, such as the bleached ends of long
reeds, lilies, stalks and the roots of flags, constitute the
greater portion of the muskrat's food though, at times, it
eats clams, fish, insects, and even young birds. Quantities
of green stuff are stored in their dens to be used as bedding
as well as food.

Hawks, owls, weasels, otters, foxes, and many other vis-
itants of the pond are the muskrat's enemies, but the
most fearful of all is the mink, which deliberately goes into
the poor rat's den to the farthest recess. The pursued
rat's only hope is to dive, for the mink is only an ordinary
swimmer.

Winter skins sell at 40 cents to $2.75 each, according to
size and quality ; the price of fall skins ranges from 25 cents
to $2.25.

Family GEOMYIDAE— Pouched Rats

NEVADA MUSKRAT

FIBER ZIBETHICUS MERGENS (HoUister)

Fiber zibethicus mergens Hollister, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.
XXIII, I, February 2d, 1910.

Description — Fresh pelage: Above, grayish brown;
head and dorsal area blackish; cheeks, shoulders and sides
rusty; under parts creamy white with central area pale
cinnamon or russet; usual spot on chin blackish brown.
Fall specimens, before the black hairs have come in, are
sometimes quite rusty above. Worn pelage: Above, uni-
form pale yellowish brown, sides and under parts with little
rusty. (Hollister.)

Distribution — Northern part of the Great Basin, south-
eastern Oregon, northeastern California, Nevada and west-
ern Utah. The Utah specimens thus far are from St.
George.

Clinton Milne says: "Muskrats are numerous in the
streams and swamps near St. George, and are on the in-
crease. I do not think they do much damage. Many trap
.the muskrat and sell their pelts for from 25 to 35 cents."

Map No. 17.— (Lined area) Range of Yellow Pocket Gopher (THOMOMYS
PERPALLIDUS AUREUS Allen) in Utah. (Dotted area) Range of
Swift Pocket Gopher (THOMOMYS OCIUS Merriam) in Utah. Based
on map of Vernon Bailey.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

83

GREEN RIVER POCKET GOPHER:
SWIFT POCKET GOPHER

THOMOMYS OCIUS (Merriam)

Thomomys calusius ocius Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XIV,
114, July 19, 1901.

Description — Summer pelage : Upper parts light buffy
gray, more strongly buffy or tinged with brownish on crown
and back; sides clear gray; cheeks darker gray; ear patch
blackish but small ; under parts, feet, and tail soiled whitish
or creamy. Winter pelage: Upper parts lighter buffy
gray ; nose and cheeks clearer gray ; under parts whitish or
creamy. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Green River Basin of southwestern Wyo-
ming, northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. Speci-
mens have been taken in Utah on the Uncompahgre Indian
reservation.

This species prefers the sagebrush mesas along the
Green River.

UINTA POCKET GOPHER

THOMOMYS UINTA (Merriam)

Thomomys uinta Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash, XIV, 112,
July 19, 1901.

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts dull dark
brown, with dusky nose and face and blackish ear and ear
patch; under parts buffy or ochraceous, with occasionally
a white patch on chin; feet and tip of tail usually whitish.
Late fall and winter pelage: Duller and more grayish.
Young, paler, more buffy than adults. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Western Wyoming, southeastern Idaho,
and northern Utah. The Utah specimens have come from
Kelton, Ogden, Park City, Parley's canyon and the Uinta
mountains. (9,000-10,000 feet.)

Habits — This species lives in the same mountain dis-
tricts and has quite the same environment as the Colorado
Pocket Gopher.

84

MAMMALS OF UTAH

^PTtJi?;>ri?;"7,^J'^"^ ^^^^^ Distribution of Colorado Pocket Gopher (THO-
MOMYS FOSSOR Allen) in Utah. (Dotted area) Distribution of Uinta
Pocket Gopher (THOMOMYS UINTA Merriam) in Utah. Based on maps
or Vernon Bailey.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

85

COLORADO POCKET GOPHER

THOMOMYS FOSSOR (Allen)

Thomomys fossor Allen, Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. V, 51,
April 28, 1893.

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts dull dark
brown with sometimes a rich chestnut tone ; ear and postau-
ricular patch black ; nose and face dusky ; under parts buffy
or ochraceous ; part of feet and tip of tail usually whitish ;
chin usually, and spot on breast sometimes, white. Winter
pelage: Duller, more grayish or drab. Young: In sum-
mer paler and more buffy than adults. (Bailey.)

Distribution — Mountains of western Colorado, extreme
southern Wyoming, northern New Mexico, eastern and
southern Utah, and northwestern Arizona. Specimens have
been taken at Beaver mountain. Buckskin Valley, Fish Lake,
LaSal Mountains, Panguitch Lake and Parowan Mountains.

Habits — On the higher open mountain slopes, particu-
larly above timberlfne, one often sees peculiar long serpen-
tine ridges of earth, sometimes dry and hard packed, but
more often partially disintegrated through the action of
moisture. These are formed by gophers during the winter
when snow covers the ground to a considerable depth. The
loose earth thrown out is packed into the ramifying tunnels
which the animal has made through the snow on the surface
of the ground. (Gary.)*

YELLOW POCKET GOPHER

THOMOMYS PERPALLIDUS AUREUS (Allen)

Thomomys aureus Allen, Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. V, 49,
April 28, 1893.

Description — Winter pelage: Upper parts beautiful
orange-buff varying to paler and darker shades and some-
times with a wash of dusky along the back ; ear patch and
nose blackish in the darker and slightly dusky in the
lighter individuals ; under parts, feet and tail creamy white.
Summer pelage: Slightly darker. Young: more grayish.
(Bailey.)

Distribution — Desert regions of southern Nevada,
southern Utah, western Colorado, central and northwestern

86

MAMMALS OF UTAH

New Mexico, and northern and western Arizona. Utah
specimens have been taken at Bluff City, Hanksville, Heb-
ron, Henry Mountain, Kanab, Manti, Mountain Meadows,
Pine Valley, St. George, Pine Valley Mountains and Santa
Clara.

Family HETEROMYIDAE— Kangaroo Rats, Pocket Mice
Subfamily DIPODOMYINAE

UTAH KANGAROO RAT

PERODIPUS MONTANUS UTAHENSIS (Merriam)

Perodipus montanus utahensis Merriam, Proc. Bio. Soc. Wash.
XVII, 1904, p. 143.

Description — Similar to P. montanus; hind foot small-
er ; upper parts less fulvous ; ears darker, the anterior fold
dusky except at extreme tip; ventral tail stripe continuous
to tip of pencil. (Elliot.)

Distribution — The type locality of this form is Ogden,
Utah; and the extent of its range is unknown.

Habits — Kangaroo rats are neither kangaroos or rats,
but near relatives of the pocket mice, which share their des-
ert haunts. They are characterized by a kangaroo-like form,
including small fore legs and feet, long hind legs and feet for
jumping, and a tail longer than the body to serve as a bal-
ance. In addition they have large prominent eyes and are
provided with skin pouches on each side of the mouth for
use in carrying food. Being desert animals they live like
pocket mice, without drinking, obtaining the necessary
water through their digestive processes. They are most
numerous in sandy areas where the earth is sometimes so
riddled by their burrows that horseback riding over them
is dangerous. Kangaroo rats are nocturnal and always
live in burrows dug by themselves. They do not hibernate
but lay up stores of food for temporary purposes. Their food
consists of seeds, leaves of several plants and young plants
just sprouting from the ground. (Nelson.)

4

MAMMALS OF UTAH

87

LONG-FOOTED KANGAROO RAT:
MOKI KANGAROO RAT

PERODIPUS LONGIPES (Merriam)

Dipodops longipes Merriam, N. A. F. No. 3, 1890, p. 72.
Perodipus longipes Elliot, Sys. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub..
II, 1901, p. 239. Zool. Ser.

Description — Color: Above, uniform ochraceous buff,
finely lined with black-tipped hairs, the latter being most
noticeable on the rump; a large, pure white spot over each
eye and another behind each ear, cheeks between whiskers
and ears, mostly white, slightly mixed with ochraceous.
Under parts pure white to base of hairs, including fore legs
and feet, band across thighs and hind feet (except soles,
which are dusky). Upper tail stripe dusky, continuous to
end of tail, but paler on the crested penicillate portion, where
it involves the terminal half of each hair only; under tail
stripe very narrow posteriorly and indistinctly continuous
with the dark tip of the pencil; lateral white stripes broad
and distinct from basal white ring to white basal portion of
pencil. (Merriam.)

Distribution — Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico
and Arizona.

Habits — The Moki kangaroo rat is a creature of the
sandy desert areas of the southwest and is normally re-
stricted to the lowest and warmest parts of the upper So-
noran zone. (Gary.)

Subfamily HETEROMYINAE

YAVAPAI POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS FLAVUS BIMACULATUS (Merriam)

Perognathus bimaculatus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 1, 12, 1889;
Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y. VII, 216, 1895.

Perognathus apache Allen, ibid. V, 71, 1893 (part).

Description — Color: As in flavus, but with a greater
abundance of black-tipped hairs on dorsum; under parts
white with occasional traces of buff ; lateral line quite dis-
tinct; ears clear buff outside, blackish inside.

Distribution— Southeastern Utah and central and
northeastern Arizona. The Utah specimens have come from
Noland's ranch on the San Juan River.

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

APACHE POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS APACHE (Merriam)

Perognathus apache Merriam, N. A. F. No. 1, 14, 1889; ibid.,
No. 3, 73, 1890; Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y. V,
71, 1893, (part) ibid, VII, 216, 1895.

Perognathus flavus subsp. Merriam, N. A. F. No. 3, 73, 1890.

Description — Color: Above rich buff, with light ad-
mixture of black, effecting a suspicion of olivaceous ; lateral
line moderately well defined; below, pure white, ears buff,
very faintly dusky within, a white spot on inflexed part and
on inferior margin ; tail white below, buff above with traces
of dusky toward tip. In the early spring "left-over" pelage
the color is a beautiful clear buff with very few dusky-tipped
hairs.

Distribution — Southern Utah, eastern Arizona and
western New Mexico. The Utah specimens are from San
Juan county.

PANAMINT POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS PANAMINTINUS (Merriam)

Perognathus longimembris panamintinus Merriam, Proc. Acad.
Nat. Sci. Phila., September 27, 1894, 265.

Description — Color : Above, grayish buff, often with a
pearly appearance caused by a pale buff ground color over-
laid by dark-tipped hairs ; lateral line pale buff, not sharply
defined ; subauricular spot small and inconspicuous ; forelegs
buffy or white; under parts white; tail, above, dusky,
strongly so distally, below buff or whitish. (Osgood.)

Distribution — Panamint mountains, California, and
eastward through southern Nevada to St. George, Utah.
The Utah specimens are all from Washington county.

NEVADA POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS NEVADENSIS (Merriam)

Perognathus nevadensis Merriam, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
September 27, 1894, 264.

Description— Color : Much as in panamintinus, but
darker, and with belly colored like sides.

-A.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

89

Distribution — Central Nevada, north to southern Ore-
gon and northern Utah. The Utah specimens are from
Kelton at the north end of Great Salt Lake.

GREAT BASIN POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS PARVUS OLIVACEUS (Merriam)

Perognathus olivaceus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 1, 15, 1889;

ibid, No. 5, 71, 1891; Elliot, Field Columbian Mus. Zool.

Ser. No. 10, 211, 1898.
Perognathus olivaceus amoenus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 1, 16,

1889.

Description — Color: Similar to the buff phase of P.
parvus, but with clearer, softer colors; above, bright cin-
namon buff finely mixed with black; lateral line distinct;
subauricular spot conspicuous ; hairs of belly pure white or
with plumbeous bases and buff tips; inner side of foreleg
white or buff. Late fall pelage paler. (Osgood.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Kel-
ton, Utah, though the range includes the upper Sonoran
zone throughout the Great Basin from northern Utah and
southern Idaho southwest to Owens valley, California, and
west to southern Oregon and northeastern California. Speci-
mens have been taken in Utah from Blacksmith Fork, Cache
county, Kelton, Laketown, Nephi, Ogden, Otter Creek and
Salt Lake City.

Habits — The habits of pocket mice, as of most other
small mammals, are not very well known. Most species are
strictly nocturnal and very shy, and many of them are dif-
ficult to trap. They live in small burrows from the en-
trances of which they throw out miniature mounds of earth
like those of the pocket gopher. These burrows usually have
two or more entrances, which often open under small
bushes, and are closed with earth during the day. The
food consists of seeds, which are carried in the cheek
pouches and stored in chambers in the burrows. No spe-
cies is known to hibernate. (Osgood.)

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

LONG-TAILED POCKET MOUSE

PEROGNATHUS FORMOSUS (Merriam)

Perognathus formosus Merriam, N. A. F. No. 1, 17, October 25,
1889.

Description — Color: Above, grizzled sepia; below
white; sides not noticeably lighter than back; dark hairs
generally extending down front leg to forearm; ears dusky
black, tuft of bristly hairs at base mixed black and whitish ;
subauricular spot small, noticeable only in very high pelage ;
feet white ; tail buff to pencil below, buff mixed with dusky
above, intensifying toward pencil, which is brownish black.
Worn pelage, drab instead of sepia. Young: Smoky gray
above, white below. (Osgood.)

Distribution — Southwestern Utah, southern Nevada,
and the adjoining portion of California in the lower Sono-
ran zone. The type locality of this species is St. George,
Utah.

Family ERETHIZONTIDAE

Subfamily ERETHIZONTINAE

WESTERN PORCUPINE: YELLOW-
HAIRED PORCUPINE

ERETHIZON EPIXANTHUM (Brandt)

Erethizon epixanthus Brandt, Mem. Acad. Imp. Scien. St.

Petersb., 6th Ser, 1835, p. 390, pis. 1, 9. Elliot, Syn. N.

Am. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 265. Zool. Ser.
Erethizon epixanthum Elliot, Mamm. Middle Amer. and W.

Indies, F. C. M. Pub. IV, Ft. I, 1904, p. 397, figs. 76, LIV.

Zool. Ser.

Description — The general appearance of the animal is
black and somewhat greenish yellow, due to the long outer
hairs, which project three inches beyond the quills and
short hairs, and are black with an inch or more of the tips
yellow. These long hairs are wanting on the rump. The
quills are yellowish with blackish tips, and are found all
over the sides and upper parts, including tail, but not on
nose. Mingled with the quills are short black hairs. Sides
of belly with yellow hairs, middle with black. The long

MAMMALS OF UTAH

91

black and yellow hairs are found on the legs and feet except
the soles which are naked and black. Total length, 32;
tail vert., 6.8; hind foot, 4.25. (Warren.)

Distribution — State of Sonora, Mexico, into New Mex-
ico, eastward to Missouri, west to the Pacific and north to
Alaska and the limit of trees. (Elliot.) Porcupines are
quite common in all of the wooded districts of Utah. I
have taken specimens in the very heart of Salt Lake City.
(Brigham street and Tenth avenue and D street.) Brigham
Spencer informs me that they are common in Garfield,
Wayne, San Juan, Grand and Emery counties. Speaking of
Washington county, Clinton Milne says that he has "seen
where a few have eaten the bark and roots of pine tree
shrubbery." S. B. Locke says that they are not very com-
mon in the LaSal mountains, where they appear usually
above 8,000 feet.

Habits — The food of porcupines consist largely of the
bark of coniferous trees, and the lodge-pole pine seems to
be preferred to firs and spruces. Occasionally such large
areas of bark are gnawed from a tree that it dies. (Gary.)

Probably no other animal of the world is capable of in-
flicting a wound so terrible, a death so painful and slow, as
that which the stupid porcupine can perpetrate with a sin-
gle swoop of its quill-covered tail. It cannot throw the deadly
needles, however, as many people suppose; but so quickly
does it lash its tail and so neatly are the spines barbed that
once the enemy is struck the quills easily pierce the flesh
and remain to work mortification of their own accord. The
result is excruciating pain and a lingering death, as awful as
inevitable. Most scientists agree that the fangs of a lion
produce immediate insensibility attended with little pain;
but weeks of torment and starvation may follow before the
defense of the porcupine completes its direful vengeance.
Man can extract the quills; but an animal can only suffer,
hopelessly, desperately, until the end.

Slow and listless, the porcupine neither migrates nor
hibernates, but lives contentedly its whole life through,
often in one small wood of hemlocks, jackpines, or elms.
Bachman says that one confined itself during an entire win-
ter to a space of about two acres. It may feed or move
about at any hour, but it really prefers the soft dimness
of evening, morning or moonlight.

Not numerous anywhere, the porcupine, non-sociable,
non-gregarious, is in fact one of the most solitary of ani-
mals. Food may attract a number at once; but the quest
is a meal, not company.

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

A porcupine grunts, sniffs, squeaks, whines, chatters,
mews and even shrieks or cries like a child. One that I
killed near the Ensign ward church building in Salt Lake
City groaned exactly like an old man when it died.

The nest of the porcupine, with its very poor bed, may
be found in a hollow tree or log, a hole under a rock or
under the roots of a tree, or in the deep crevice of a low,
overhanging rocky ledge.

Little is known of the marriage relations of the porcu-
pine. Mating takes place in September or October, and the
father takes no interest in the offspring. The young, usu-
ally two in number, born early in May, are monstrous in
size. According to Merriam they are "actually larger and
relatively more than thirty times larger than the young of
the black bear at birth."

Clumsy and slow on the ground, the porcupine is ex-
ceedingly sluggish in a tree, frequently pottering for days
on a single branch, and closely resembling a magpie's nest
all the while. On account of its hollow quills, it easily floats
in the water and thus paddles great distances.

Family OCHOTONIDAE

CINNAMON CHIEF HARE

OCHOTONA CINNAMOMEA (Allen)

Ochotona cinnamomea Allen, Bull. Brookl. Inst. Arts and Scien.
I, No. 5, 1905, p. 121.

Description — Color : Above pale cinnamon rufous, var-
ried with black on dorsal region ; sides dull cinnamon ; top of
head and nape gray tinged with buff; hairs tipped with
black ; under parts grayish washed with buff ; ears blackish
externally, narrowly edged with white; inside grayish
dusky; fore feet above buffy gray, soles silvery gray; hind
feet soles black. (Elliot.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is Briggs
meadow, Beaver range. Beaver county, Utah, at an alti-
tude of 11,000 feet. The extent of its range is not known.

S. B. Locke says that they are found in the LaSal
mountains at about 9,000 feet elevation.

Habits — The pika, little chief hare or cony, as it is
variously named, is about the size and shape of a small

MAMMALS OF UTAH

93

guinea pig, with a short, blunt head, broad, rounded ears,
short legs, practically no tail and a long, fluffy coat of fur.
While most nearly related to the hares and rabbits they
have entirely different habits. They live permanently
along the high crests of the mountains, mainly above timber
line, though sometimes in rock slides among the upper
spruces, firs and pines. They live wholly within the shel-
ter of rock slides and shelter of shattered rock masses.
They are mainly diurnal in habits, and throughout the day
may be heard giving their odd little barking or bleating
notes, "eh-eh." Their young, usually three or four in num-
ber, are born during early summer and are out soon forag-
ing for themselves. They are active all winter long, living
then on the hay and varieties of small plants that they
stored during the summer and autumn. (Nelson.)

PIKA OR CHIEF HARE

OCHOTONA UINTA (Hollister)

Ochotona uinta Hollister, Proc. Bio. Soc. Wash. XXV, p. 58,
1912 M.

Description — Coilor : Upper parts from head to tail
uniform clay color, finely lined with darker brown; head
darker than back ; under parts cream buff ; hands and feet
yellow buff. Ears dark brown edged with buff and with
tuft of buff colored hairs inside. The peculiar color of this
new species at once distinguishes it from all other American
pikas. The close color resemblance to Ochotona bedfordi of
Asia is remarkable. Three specimens from the type local-
ity, all in full pelage are at hand. An old, faded, specimen
from the Wasatch mountains, Utah, is probably of the
same form. (Hollister.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is the
Uinta mountains. I am informed by N. W. Reynolds that
this pika is common at Brighton and in Little Cottonwood
canyon. Salt Lake County, Utah. Mr. F. A. Wrathall has
several skins in his possession, and he informs me that they
appear everywhere in the Wasatch where there is slide rock.

Professor Marcus E. Jones informs me that the pika is
found in all the sub-alpine and alpine regions of the Wasatch
mountains from Mt. Timpanogas to the northern Utah line.

Habits — The habits of conies are most interesting. As
far as my observation goes, they live entirely in slide rock,

94

MAMMALS OF UTAH

usually on steep slopes. . . . The hay stacks of these in-
dustrious little animals, comprising their winter food, are
composed of many species of grasses and weeds, cut and
gathered in summer, and allowed to dry among the rocks.
Thistles are found in most of these stacks, and seem to be
a favorite food. Well worn runways lead from one stack to
another and extend to neighboring rock slides. Conies are
usually quite shy and would be seldom observed were it not
for the odd, complaining notes which they utter continually
when alarmed. (Gary.)

PAROWAN PIKA

OCHOTONA SCHISTICEPS FUSCIPES (Howell)

Ochotona schisticeps fuscipes Arthur H. Howell, Proc. Biol.
Soc. Wash., Vol. 32, p. 110, May 20, 1919.

Description — Color of type in summer pelage: Upper
parts mixed light pinkish cinnamon and fuscous-black (the
blackish prevailing) ; tip of nose fuscous-black ; sides of nose
and face smoke gray, tinged with buff and washed with
fuscous ; back of head and nape washed with pale neutral
gray ; ears fuscous black, margined with buff y white ; sides
pinkish cinnamon mixed with fuscous, becoming clear pink-
ish cinnamon along side of belly; hind feet soiled whitish
washed with pale cinnamon buff, the soles fuscous; front
feet cinnamon buff, the palms hair-brown; under parts
grayish white, heavily washed with pinkish cinnamon.
(Howell.) Mr. Howell states that it is similar to O. cinna-
momea, but larger with larger and relatively broader skull
and more blackish coloration.

Distribution — The type specimen was taken by Wilfred
H. Osgood on September 7, 1908, from Brian Head, Parowan
mountains, Utah. The race is based on a series of five
adults and one young, all from the same place. The limits
of its range are at present unknown.

Habits — Nothing is known of its habits except that it is
apparently more closely related to schisticeps of the north-
ern high Sierra and to taylori of southern Oregon than to
cinnamomea, its neighbor.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

95

Family LEPORIDAE— Hares, Rabbits

WYOMING COTTONTAIL

SYLVILAGUS AUDUBONI BAILEYI (Merriam)

Lepus baileyi Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XI, p. 148,
June 9, 1897.

Description — Color in fresh winter pelage: Upper
parts of head and body nearly uniform pale cream buff,
slightly darkened by thin overlying wash of black ; sides of
head and body a little paler or grayer than back ; rump dull
iron gray, forming a not strongly contrasted patch; top of
tail like rump; outside of ears similar to top of head, but
slightly darker and edged around tip with black; inside of
ears dull grayish white becoming more buf fy about borders ;
nape light rufous approaching ochraceous buff; front and
outside of fore legs ochraceous buff varying in intensity,
sometimes approaching dark buff, and shading into dark
buff on tops of fore feet ; back and sides of lower hind legs
dark buff, sometimes shaded with brownish but rarely
showing traces of the dark cinnamon or reddish shades
characteristic of warreni; lower border of flanks scarcely
more buf fy than rest of sides ; underside of neck dark buff,
varying to deep pinkish or creamy buff. The young in im-
mature pelage are darker and more buffy brownish gray
on upper parts than the adults. The postjuvenal pelage
is slightly darker and more grizzled gray than the adult,
with darker brownish gray ears and more rusty legs. The
young are often not very different from those of arizonae
and minor. (Nelson.)

Distribution — Plains and valleys of eastern Montana,
most of Wyoming, northeastern Utah, northwestern and
eastern Colorado, western parts of North and South Dakota,
Nebraska, and as far east as Trego county, Kansas. The
Utah specimens are from the Uncompahgre Indian reserva-
tion.

Habits — Throughout its range the plains cottontail is
pre-eminently an inhabitant of the semi-arid Upper So-
noran plains, where it lives in holes along the steep cut
banks of dry arroyos, in the deserted burrows of prairie
dogs and often in holes beneath sagebrush, atriples, or
prickly pear (opuntia polyacantha) on the open plains. Its
flesh is well flavored and tender. (Cary.)

96

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 19.— (Lined area) Range of Colorado Desert Jack Rabbit (LEPUS
CALIFORNICUS DESERTICOLA Mearns) in Utah. (Dotted area)
Range of Wyoming Cottontail (SYLVILAGUS AUDUBONI BAILEYI
Merriam) in Utah. (Double line area) Range of Colorado Cottontail
(SYLVILAGUS AUDUBONI WARRENI Nelson). Based on maps of
E. W. Nelson.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

97

COLORADO COTTONTAIL

SYLVILAGUS AUDUBONI WARRENI (Nelson)

Sylvilagus auduboni warreni Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.
XX, p. 83, July 22, 1907.

Description — Color in fresh winter pelage: Upper
parts of head and body dark creamy buff strongly washed
on back with black; sides of head and body grayer and
washed with less black than back and shading into clear dull
buff along lower border of flanks ; outside of ears similar to
back, or a little grayer ; nape light rusty rufous * rump
iron gray, forming a well-defined patch; top of tail like
rumps front and outside of fore legs varying from dark
rusty ochraceous buff to light rusty cinnamon rufous ; tops
of fore feet white, more or less shaded with buff ; back and
outside of hind legs cinnamon, varying to lighter more
rusty cinnamon and to darker more cinnamon brown; tops
of hind feet vary from white to pale buff; the rusty areas
on fore and hind legs connected by buffy line along lower
border of flanks; underside of neck varies from dull dark
buff to dark buff tinged with fawn color; inguinal area
more or less deeply buffy. (Nelson.)

Distribution — Southwestern Colorado, southeastern
Utah, northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona.
Specimens have been taken at Canesville, Hanksville and
Mount Ellen of the Henry mountains.

Habits — Ranchmen state that their numbers near Bluff
City, Utah, are at times so great that nearly all the range
grasses in the vicinity of canyons are eaten by them before
the middle of June. (Cary.)

BLACK HILLS COTTONTAIL

SYLVILAGUS NUTTALLI GRANGERI (Allen)

Lepus sylvaticus grangeri Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
VII, pp. 264-265 (author's separates issued August 21,
1895).

Lepus 1 (aticinctus) perplicatus Elliot, Field Col. Mus. Chi-
cago, Zool. Ser. Ill, No. 14, pp. 255-256, December, 1903.

Description — Color in fresh pelage : Top of head creamy
buff with a slight shade of fawn color, lightly frosted on
surface with gray; top of back a slightly paler shade of

Map. No. 20.— Range of Black Hills Cottontail (SYLVILAGUS NUTTALLII
GRANGERI Allen) in Utah. Based on map of E. W. Nelson.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

99

same creamy buff, darkened by an overlying wash of black ;
rump patch iron gray ; top of tail dull buf f y brownish ; un-
der side white; sides of head and body dull buffy gray,
much paler and grayer than back ; nape light rusty rufous ;
front and sides of fore legs bright, almost orange, rufous,
varying to a slightly darker and more cinnamon rufous,
but like hind legs averaging much brighter rufous in pinetis
and shading into a paler, more rusty buffy on tops of fore
feet; back and outside of lower hind legs similar to front
of fore legs, but rufous deeper and richer; outside of hind
feet more or less strongly shaded with rusty; tops of hind
feet white, underlaid with a tinge of rusty buffy ; underside
of neck dull creamy buffy, varying to a dull ochraceous
buffy, with a wash or grayish on surface; rest of under
parts pure white; sides of neck dull grayish creamy buff
underlaid and tinged with a dull reddish brown, ears dull
grayish, edged about terminal third with black. Worn pe-
lage: Upper parts bleached to grayish white, underlaid by
varying shades of the buffy brown underfur, which often
give badly worn specimens a much darker or browner ap-
pearance, very different from freshly pelaged ones ; legs av-
erage brighter rufous; outside of ears duller and browner;
nape deeper and richer rusty ; rump patch less distinct. Post-
ju venal pelage: Darker and more grizzled grayish buffy
than adults, with rump patch much less distinct; sides of
body only slightly grayer than back ; legs bright rufous, as
in adults. Juvenal pelage: Dark dull grayish buffy;
rather darker than in the young of pinetis; nape and legs
duller and paler rusty, often becoming rusty buffy on legs
and feet. (Nelson.)

Distribution — Western South Dakota, most of Montana
and Wyoming; most of the sagebrush plains of Idaho, Ne-
vada, mountains of middle eastern California; most of
Utah; northwestern Colorado, north into Canada. Speci-
mens have been taken in Utah at Bear Lake, Henry moun-
tains. Helper, Ogden Hot Springs, Laketown, Nephi, Ogden,
Panguitch, and upper Kanab.

Habits — Meek and timid in nature, the cottontail is
nevertheless one of the most interesting animals of the
woods. Rabbits in general vary little among themselves,
but are, however, sharply separated from other species of
the gnawing tribe. The soles of a rabbit's feet are not
bare like those of most rodents ; but are covered with hair —
a fact which accounts for the lack of sharp definition in
their footprints. Behind the two big front teeth of the
rabbit's upper jaw are another pair of small teeth, which

100

MAMMALS OF UTAH

MAMMALS OF UTAH

101

do not reach far enough down to be of any use. These inser-
vient molars show that the ancestral rabbits of prehistoric
days had four large front teeth instead of two.

A rabbit's front leg bones are so constituted that they
cannot be turned inward and used as hands when the ani-
mal is feeding. Thus a rabbit may reach high to nibble
some tid bit, but its feet hang helpless during the process.
In fact the rabbit does not use its front feet except when
running and in manifesting anger by stamping.

Briar grown berry patches, sage covered ravines, iso-
lated clumps of bushes, whether on the roadside or on the
mountain slope — these are the haunts of the cottontail.
Creek bottoms and places of impenetrable foliage suit his
fancy to a nicety; winter and summer, he thrives on a
woodland only a few rods square.

The food of the cottontail is more varied than that
of most other animals, as it includes in summer, fruit,
grasses, vegetables, and almost any herbaceous bit its fancy
selects, and, in winter, dead grass, buds, the bark of poplar,
willow, dwarf birch trees and occasionally tamarac. Some-
times it eats white cedar and spruce leaves.

WESTERN WHITE-TAILED
JACK RABBIT

LEPUS CAMPESTRIS TOWNSENDI (Bachman)

Lepus townsendi Bachman, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. VIII,
pt. I, pp. 90-94, pi. II, 1839.

Description — Color of fresh summer pelage: Head
and upper parts of body nearly uniform dark gray, varying
from an almost silvery tone to a dull and slightly pinkish
gray with an underlying brownish shade; underfur tipped
with dusky brownish, darker and less buffy than in cam-
pestris; front fore legs and tops of fore feet dull grizzled
buffy gray, sometimes becoming dingy buffy on tops of
feet, outside of hind legs varying from plain dull gray to
drab gray; tail white, sometimes with a considerable
amount of dusky or black, forming a narrow but well-
marked median line on top; tops of hind feet white, some-
times with a slight mixture of gray, or a little buffy about
toes; nape dingy gray, sometimes with a smoky brown or
dull buffy brown suffusion; front half of outside of ears
dusky gray; posterior half white with a distinctly more
restricted black tip than in sierras or campestris; inside
of ear with a dusky area along posterior side and bordered

102

MAMMALS OF UTAH

anteriorly with dull rather pale ochraceous buffy; posteri-
orly bordered with white, the latter sometimes suffused
with deep buffy; tip of ears in front edged with black;
orbital area and sides of nose sometimes more or less
strongly shaded with cinnamon buffy; underside of neck
dull drab grayish shaded with brownish or dull buffy,
distinctly less yellowish and more brownish gray than in
campestris. Color of winter pelage : Specimens from Utah,
Nevada and thence north became white in winter and prac-
tically indistinguishable from campestris except by smaller
size and less black on tips of ears; winter specimens from
southwestern Colorado become much more whitish than in
summer, but, as in the case of campestris east of the
mountains in that State, only a partial change takes place.
In strong contrast to the bright yellowish buffy backs of
Colorado specimens of campestris in winter, townsendi from
the same state at this season becomes much paler or more
whitish on shoulders, sides of body, and rump, and paler
buffy gray on top of head and back ; the ears become paler
and grayer than in summer ; nape grayish white ; top of
tail white with dusky along median line on top, varying
from scattered hairs to a strong well-marked black band
in several specimens from Coventry, in one case equaling
ordinary texianus in amount of black; top of fore feet and
legs dingy buffy brownish or dull grayish buffy; outside
of hind legs whitish or dull whitish gray ; underside of neck
varying from dull browish buffy to dull ecru drab, always
more or less strongly washed with whitish or lighter buffy ;
well-marked rump patch dull whitish, varying to pale dull
iron gray. (Nelson)

Distribution — Great Basin region, including east slope
of Cascade range, and thence east to Rocky Mountains,
occupying eastern Washington and Oregon north to Fair-
view, British Columbia; and from the northeastern corner
of California easterly to northern Nevada, western and
southern Idaho, extreme southwestern Wyoming, most of
Utah, and Colorado from western border to summit of
Rocky Mountains. Vertical range from 1,000 to 12,000
feet. Specimens have been taken in Utah from Kanab,
Ogden and Salt Lake City, and hundreds are killed annually
for the market at the northern end of Great Salt Lake and
in Tooele and Utah counties.

Jack rabbit skins are at present worth from 75 cents
to 35 cents a pound. The hatters of the East have recently
discovered that by a new method the fur of western jack
rabbits is suitable for hats. Heretofore most of the skins
they used were imported from other countries.

4

MAMMALS OF UTAH

108

' Map No. 22.— Range of Rocky Mountain Snowshoe Rabbit (LEPUS BAIRDI
Hayden) in Utah. Based on map of E. W. Nelson and records of Claude
T. Barnes.

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SNOWSHOE
RABBIT

LEPUS BAIRDI (Hayden)

Lepus bairdi Hayden, Am. Naturalist, III, pp. 115-116, I text
fig.. May, 1869.

Description — Color in summer pelage: Upperparts of
body varying from dusky slightly buffy grayish brown to
rusty cinnamon brown; wash of dusky strongest along
.top of back, about as in americanus and rump even more
blackish (about as in macfarlani) ; top of tail black ; sides
of body like back; top and sides of head deep reddish cin-
namon mixed with dusky on crown and cheeks, but nearly
pure about eyes and sides of nose ; the color of head usually
brighter and contrasting with the dulled and darker color
of body ; basal front half of ears similar to top of head and
shading into dusky near tip; posterior half of ears on out-
side dingy grayish on basal part and becoming blackish on
terminal half; inside of ears dusky brownish with a well-
marked white border around entire margin; nape dusky
brown, duller than back; front and hind feet usually white,
but one Idaho and one Wallawa Lake, Oregon, specimen have
fore feet and legs and front border of thighs similar to head
and tops of hind feet whitish with a thin mixture of rusty
cinnamon hairs ; underside of neck similar to sides of body
but often much deeper or more richly colored ; rest of
underparts snowy white with color of flanks sometimes
extending in on sides of abdomen. Postjuvenal pelage:
(A half-grown specimen from Big Snowy Mountains, Mon-
tana) Nearly uniform dull, slightly ochraceous, buffy, clear-
est about eyes and on feet; underside of neck rich rusty
cinnamon. Another speicmen of same age from the Snowy
Mountains much duller and grayer than the one described
and about intermediate between it and one from Wyoming.
Winter pelage : Entirely pure white, except a narrow dusky
border to tip of ears, and sometimes salmon varying to pale
salmon buff. (Nelson)

Distribution — Higher parts of Rocky Mountains from
Idaho, Montana, and extreme eastern Washington and Ore-
gon, southeast through western Wyoming, eastern Utah,
and middle Colorado to central New Mexico. Vertical range
from about 8,000 feet to timerline. The specimens thus
far taken in Utah are from the Wasatch and Uinta Moun-
tains. Prof. Marcus E. Jones, however, states that he has
seen them at Marysvale, Utah, and though specimens are

MAMMALS OF UTAH

105

not at hand the report will undoubtedly prove authentic.
I have taken specimens in City Creek Canyon within the
corporate limits of Salt Lake City.

Habits — This large-footed hare prefers thick willow-
copses ; hence each individual passes its entire life in a glen
of only a few hundred yards radius. It is not very sociable
with others of its kind though of course not avoiding them.
It squeals when frightened. It mates early in March, the
nest being made usually under a labryinth of underbrush.
The young, usually two though sometimes three in number,
leave the nest after ten or twelve days and at three weeks
leave probably never to return.

This rabbit feeds mostly after sundown or before sun-
rise. It dresses its coat after the manner of a housecat;
but is not so clean about its den which eventually becomes
a source of disease. Its broad feet permit travel in winter
as easily as in summer and hence it changes its habits little
with the seasons. During the summer it feeds on grass,
clover and other edible green things; but in winter it sub-
sists on dry grass, buds and the bark of poplar, birch, willow
and tamarac trees, as well as the leaves of white cedar and
spruce.

COLORADO DESERT JACK RABBIT

LEPUS CALIFORNICUS DESERTICOLA (Mearns) _

Lepus texianus deserticola Mearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.
XVIII, No. 1081, pp. 564-565, June 24, 1896.

Description — Color in fresh winter pelage: Top of
head and back pale ash gray, often almost whitish, only
a little darkened by black tips to hairs, and often tinged
with pale buff; sides of head and body paler than back;
area about eyes pale buff or buffy white; front half of
ears varies from grayish cream buff to pale buffy gray;
posterior half of ears clear grayish white, usually with a
rather poorly defined blackish patch about an inch long at
tips (sometimes this patch nearly obsolete) ; the black area
not strongly marked about border of ears at extreme tip,
as in most other forms of this species; inside of ears bor-
dered on front edges with a fringe of long whitish hairs, at
tips by a narrow velvety border of buff, and along posterior
edges with white; inside of ears brownish gray near pos-
terior border and plain gray elsewhere; nape pale dull cin-

106

MAMMALS OF UTAH

namon varying to fawn color and pale grayish drab; top
of tail and line down base of rump black; underside of tail
dull, slightly yellowish, gray; lower part of shoulders and
fore legs varying from pale buffy fawn color to pale dull
pinkish buff ; tops of fore feet varying from pale dull gray
to yellowish white; an indistinct band along sides of abdo-
men and lower border of flanks dull cinaceous buff, some-
times varying to pale cream buff with a slight vinaceous
tinge; back and sides of hind legs dull ecru drab, shading
into dull white, often tinged with dull buff on front of legs
and tops of hind feet; underside of neck a little darker
than fore legs and varying from pale buffy fawn color to
cinaceous drab; rest of underside of body white, more or
less strongly vinaceous buffy along border of flanks, as
already noted; rump patch absent. In worn and faded pel-
age the upperparts become more whitish and the buffy on
sides paler. (Nelson)

Distribution — Arid desert areas of northeastern lower
California, and extreme northwestern Sonora, New Mexico,
thence north through southeastern California, through most
of Nevada, most of Utah, and southern Idaho, and east
Phoenix and San Francisco mountains in Arizona. Vertical
range from below sea level to 9,000 feet. Specimens have
been tak,en in Utah from Beaver, Beaver Hills, Buckskin
Valley, Cave Fort, Kelton, Loa, Nephi, Ogden and Provo.

Order CARNIVORA: Carnivores

Family FELIDAE, Cats

PUMA: MOUNTAIN LION

FELIS HIPPOLESTES (Merriam)

Felix oregonensis Rafin., Atlantic Journ., 1, 1832, p. 62.
Felis hippolestes Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XI 1897,
p. 219.

Felis hippolestes olympus Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XI,
1897, p. 220.

Felis hippolestes aztecus Merr., Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. Ill,
1901, p. 592.

Felis aztecus browni Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XVI, 1903,
p. 73.

Felis concolor oregonensis Elliot, Syn. N. A. Mamm., F. C. M.
Pub., II, 1901, p. 204.

Description — Upper parts and sides pale fulvous brown,
darkest in middle of back and tail; tip of tail black; face
from nose to eyes grayish brown; a pale patch over each
eye; back of ears blackish; chin, lips (except dark patch
at base of whiskers) throat, breast, inner side of forelegs,
inguinal region, and hinder part of belly solid white ; under
side of tail grayish white. (Merriam type Felis hippolestes.)

Distribution — Mountain lions are distributed over the
greater part of the State of Utah. In 1915 bounty was paid
on 50 animals killed in the following counties : Beaver, 13 ;
Garfield, 2; Grand, 2; Iron, 1; Millard, 9; Salt Lake, 5;
Sanpete, 1 ; Sevier, 1 ; Uintah, 5 ; Wasatch, 3 ; Washington, 8 .
In 1916 bounty was paid on 34 as follows : Beaver, 1 ; Gar-
field, 3 ; Grand, 1 ; Iron, 3 ; Kane, 1 ; Piute, 3 ; Salt Lake, 1 ;
Sevier, 1 ; Tooele, 5 ; Wasatch, 3, and Washington, 11. I have
seen mountain lion tracks in Emmigration canyon only a
few miles from Salt Lake City, and in 1917 a lion was killed
just west of the city about twelve miles. A. W. Jenson
of Provo estimates that there are 25 cougars in the Uinta
forest while Clinton Milne of St. George says they are nu-
merous and on the increase in Washington county where
they do much damage to deer, sheep and colts. B. E. Matts-
son says mountain lions are to be found on the lower ranges
of the Manti forest, particularly on ranges used for lambing

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

purposes. He reports very few domestic animals have been
killed by them during the past five years. George H.
Barney of Escalante informs me that they are numerous
along the south and east boundary of the Escalante forest.
They there range just inside the forest and in the rough,
ledgy country to the Colorado river. J. W. Humphrey of
Panguitch says that they are numerous on the mountains
on both sides of the Sevier river valley in Garfield and
Kane counties. William M. Mace of St. George writes that
they are found in the Dixie forest, particularly in the vicin-
ity of the Pine valley mountains and also in the northeastern
part of the county. He estimates that there are from 100
to 150 in Washington county. E. C. Shepard of Logan esti-
mates that there are 50 in the Cache national forest, and
William M. Anderson reports a few along the rough breaks
adjacent to Green river.

C. A. Mattsson of Salina says : 'The large bounties that
have been offered for mountain lions have resulted in their
extermination on some of the principal ranges of the Fish
Lake forest. However, there are a few lions still found in
the ledges and rough country immediately to the north
and south of Salina canyon. The tracks and other indi-
cations also show that there are a few lions on the East
desert which lies just east of the Coal range. These lions
have done much to prevent an increase of deer."

Of several hundred Utah cougar skins mounted by Mr.
F. A. Wrathall he is able to note no constant difference in
coloration between those taken from the southern and those
from the northern part of the State. The finest skins he
receives come, however, from the vicinity of Kanab and
from Tooele county.

Habits — The names of the mountain lion are legion:
For instance, what is called the "panther" in Texas, the
"Mexican lion" in the south, the "cougar" in the middle
west, the "deer tiger" in Guiana, "puma" among scientists,
"painter" in some parts of the East, and "catamount" is
merely the mountain lion. Other names of the cougar are as
various as the works of Daedalus, a few of the more pic-
turesque among them, native and otherwise, being as fol-
lows: "Chimbiea," "lion," "yutin," "miztli," "pagi," "red
tiger," "American lion," "silver lion," "Brazilian cat,"
"brown tiger," "mischipischu," "ingronga," "gauzuara."
"ingrongasinda," "Schunta-Haschka" and "Ihtupah-achati."

In both size and color the cougar resembles the female
African lion though there is no comparison in ferocity.
The African lion cannot climb a tree.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

109

The cougar's size is, however, somewhat in dispute,
Roosevelt insisting in his "With the Cougar Hounds" that
it never "comes anywhere near being nine feet in length."
This, I am sure, however, is untrue as I have myself meas-
ured a skin that went nine feet five inches tip to tip. In
response to an inquiry, Buffalo Jones, the noted cougar
hunter, wrote me that the largest mountain lion he "ever
saw measured ten feet four inches, from tip to tip, after
it was skinned." Phineas Bodily of Kaysville tells me that
he once killed a lion that measured nine feet six inches.
James G. Needham of Galesburg, Illinois, according to in-
formation furnished True, killed one that measured nine feet
one inch. The American Field, Vol. 24, 1885, p. 486, records
one that went ten feet, and Forest and Stream, Vol. 19, 1882,
p. 127, mentions one that measured eleven feet three inches !
In Outdoor Life, Vol. XLII, No. 4, October, 1918, p. 243,
Addison M. Powell gives the following measurements of
different cougars he knows of: Nine feet 4 inches, 10 feet
6 inches. He adds : "I possibly could get one hundred names
of reliable men who have killed panthers — the Pacific Coast
variety, the skins of which measured more than nine feet
and many more than ten feet."

The young mountain lion, pale rusty gray in color, is
covered with numerous distinct round blotches like those
of the leopard. The kittens, usually two in number, remain
with the mother until they are grown or have at least
learned to hunt. They are born at various times through-
out the year and do not open their eyes until the ninth or
tenth day.

The lair is usually a shallow cavern on the face of
some inaccessible cliff or ledge but if there are no rocks
about, a bed of sticks, weeds, mosses, leaves, and grasses
is built in a dense thicket.

Thomas Abbott, a Utah pioneer, tells me that in early
days in Utah he once saw three mountain lions chasing a
deer, one running at each side and the other at the rear.
Others inform me that they have seen them thus chasing
deer up a canyon. Usually, however, the cougar is a soli-
tary wanderer. Always shy, always alert, one may sneak
about for hours without being either seen or heard.

It is said that the cougar is the only animal feared by
the grizzly bear; yet a small dog when with a hunter can
usually chase a mountain lion up a tree. Even a female
cougar will desert her young after a brief encounter with
hounds.

There are about a dozen authentic records of instances
where a cougar has killed a man, and many instances of

110

MAMMALS OF UTAH

attacks on children; yet Hornaday, who can always be
relied upon in matters concerning mammals, says it is less
to be dreaded than a savage dog. Of course there are ex-
ceptions to all rules governing the habits of wild animals;
in fact, I knew a trapper in Idaho by the name of Frank
Peet, who habitually shot grizzlies yet had been followed by
a cougar in such a uncanny manner on several occasions
that he feared this animal more than any other in the
woods.

When treed a cougar will snarl and growl in low thun-
derous tones and at the death may even squall. In defend-
ing itself it strikes with its forepaw or, lying on its back,
tries to rip open its antagonist with its claws.

In a single night a cougar may ravage a stock farm
wreaking its desires particularly on colts, sheep, calves and
pigs. Phineas Bodily tells me that he saw one kill ten
sheep in as many minutes; it bit each one in the back of
the head and the whole performance was over before any
sounds were made. He has known a cougar to jump a
nine-foot fence, taking a grown sheep with it.

CANADA LYNX

FELIS CANADENSIS (Kerr)

Lynx canadensis Kerr, Anim. Kingd. 1792, p. 32, disc. p. 157.
Felis canadensis Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub. II,
1901, p. 295. Zool. Ser.

Description — Body stout, and legs very long, with very
large feet. The fur is dense and very long. Color light
gray, base of hairs rufous, giving a reddish tinge to the
coat ; top of head and back darkest ; ears behind black with a
gray patch, and tufts of black hairs projecting- upwards
from the tips ; under parts white ; tip of tail black all round.
Total length 37 ; tail vert. 4.75. (Merriam.)

Distribution — In 1915 sixty-one lynx were taken in
Utah and reported for the payment of bounty, thirty-one
of them coming from Sevier County, and the remainder from
Beaver, Uintah, San Pete, Salt Lake, Rich, Emery, Du-
chesne, and Carbon Counties. In 1916 forty-two were killed,
thirteen coming from Tooele County and the remainder
from Box Elder, Carbon, Duchesne, Iron, Morgan, Salt Lake,
San Pete, Summit, Uinta, Utah, Wasatch, Wayne, and Bea-
ver Counties. Clinton Milne says that there are a few in
Washington County.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

111

Habits — This animal is very destructive to smaller
wild game and to young lambs. An occasional lynx is
found in the Panguitch district, according to J. W. Hum-
phrey ; and E. C. Shepard estimates that there are fifty in
the Cache national forest. They are, however, plentiful,
according to William M. Anderson of Vernal, throughout
the whole Uintah mountains. A. W. Jensen estimates that
there are fifty in the Uinta forest district alone.

Harry Krupp has killed several animals of this species
in Utah just south of the Wyoming line, several of the
skins being in the possession of F. A. Wrathall. The big
feet of this animal readily distinguish it from the wild cats.

Heavily furred lynx skins of large size bring the trap-
per as high as $60.00 each ; and the very poorest skins are
worth about $2.00 each.

UINTA MOUNTAINS LYNX:
MOUNTAIN WILD CAT

FELIS UINTA (Merriam)

Lynx uinta Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XV, 1902, p. 70.

Description — Size large; tail very long with two black
subterminal bands, black tips. Skull long, narrow, sagittal
crest present ; ascending arm of maxillary broad, under jaw
heavy, teeth small. Color: Above buffy grizzled with gray
and black; beneath white with black spots, these becoming
bands on inner sides of arms and thighs; throat fulvous,
crossed by a fulvous brown band; V-shaped black mark on
anterior part of throat; tail with two or three blackish
bands above the black tip. (Elliot.)

Distribution — The type locality of this cat is the south
slope of the Uinta mountains, Uinta county, Wyoming.
Dr. Merriam informs me that Lynx uinta is doubtless con-
fined to the high timber mountains in this state.

BAILEY'S LYNX

LYNX BAILEYI (Merriam)

Lynx baileyi Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 3, 1890, p. 79.
• Fells rufa baileyi Elliot, Syn, N. A. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub., 11,
1901, p. 297.

Description — Lynx baileyi differs from Lynx rufus of
the eastern United States in being uniformly paler above

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

and in having a shorter tail and softer fur. The upper
parts are everywhere suffused with a buffy tint, and the
dark markings are decreased in area or altogether sup-
pressed. Thus the blackish marblings of the face and fore-
head are obsolete, and the black half ring at the tip of the
tail is not more than half the width of that of L. rufus.
On the other hand the anterior border of the ear is dis-
tinctly whitish, in marked contrast to the black immediately
behind it, while in L. rufus the same border is dark tawny
brown. The white hind toes of L. rufus are absent. (Mer-
riam.)

Distribution — Dr. C. Hart Merriam informs me that
Lynx baileyi is the common bob-cat of southern Utah and
probably of the greater part of the state.

Wild cats are quite common on the lower ranges of the
Manti forest (B. E. Mattsson) and are common all over
the Escalante forest and in the rough breaks to the south
and east (George E. Barney). There are probably a hun-
dred in the Cache national forest (E. C. Shepard) ; and
they appear in considerable numbers in the mountains on
both sides of the Sevier River valley in Garfield and Kane
counties (J. W. Humphrey). Bob-cats are fairly plentiful
in the Vernal country, being located generally around the
boundaries of the Ashley forest, between the farm lands
and the higher areas (William M. Anderson) . C. A. Matts-
son of Salina says: "The wild cat, bob-cat or bay lynx, as
it is variously called in different parts of the country, is
one of the most widely distributed and best known animals
in this vicinity. It has been seen on the hills near the
agricultural districts of the valleys and during the sum-
mer seasons on the high elevations of the mountains in the
Fish Lake national forest. It is most numerous near rock
slides, lava beds, in ledges, rough canyons, and in the more
inaccessible parts of the mountain ranges. Ordinarily the
wild cat seems to be rather uncommon, but its nocturnal
habits usually prevent its real numbers from being known.
However, on the Thousand Lake mountains, and on the
more inaccessible parts of the Fish Lake forest it is not
uncommonly seen abroad by day."

Mr. F. A. Wrathall informs me that this animal is very
common if one may judge from the constant supply of skins
sent him for mounting from various parts of the state.

S. B. Locke says that they are well distributed over the
cedar and pinyon covered districts of San Juan county.

Habits — Despiteful, alert, and as furious as a demon
when actually cornered, but, at times, as warm hearted as

MAMMALS OF UTAH

113

the Good Samaritan — such is the wild cat according to cir-
cumstances and mood. Look at the house cat when it lies
serenely before the hearth — it purrs affably with almost
an angelic sweetness in its big round eyes — then, watch it
when a strange dog enters — it assumes a fiendish aspect,
spits, growls, and emits bitter enmity from every hair.
You have seen a dimunitive wild cat ; for a friend of mine,
a furrier, has a wild cat that is so good humored that he
can rub his head against its cheek while a stranger meets
a most misgiving rush and snarl.

The wild cat prowls about the foothills in search of
birds, squirrels, mice, grouse, cottontails, and, in fact, any
small game, not excepting snakes, frogs and insects. Un-
less starving it refuses to attack a skunk or the porcu-
pine, though it may kill a cross fox, which, not being broad
footed, sinks in the snow and cannot flee. As a rule a wild
cat will rush up a tree at sight of a small dog. In capturing
a prairie dog it evinces unbounded patience, crouched for
hours behind a rock until its victim, thinking it has passed,
works up sufficient courage to scamper a few yards from its
hole. In eating, a wild cat crunches and swallows bones as
well as meat; and, if disturbed, emits a low, humming
growl, smoother and softer than the growl of a dog, yet
fiercely defiant and uncanny.

If about to fight with each other, wild cats twitch
their tails violently, put their ears back, and hold their
paws ready to strike, snarling and rumbling all the while.
Their teeth and claws are over half an inch long and beau-
tifully formed.

The home of the wild cat is usually in a hollow stump,
or in a thick tangled coppice between the interlocking
branches of some failed tree. Here on a soft bed of moss
and dry grass, the ill-tempered kittens, usually three, are
born, though one may be devoured at once by the incom-
prehensible mother. In two or three months the kittens
are weaned and taught to hunt ready to face the chill
winds and scanty food of winter.

The flesh of the wild cat is white, tender and quite
'like veal.

The skins of this animal bring the trapper from 35
cents to $20.00 each according to quality and size.

114

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Family CANIDAE, Dogs, Wolves, Foxes.
Subfamily CANINAE

WOLF

CANIS OCCIDENT ALIS (Richardson)

Canis lupus occidentalis Richard., Faun. Bor. Am., Mamm.,

I, 1829, p. 60.

Canis occidentalis Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M. Pub.,

II, 1901, p. 300.

Description — Skin of male in general, a dull, yellowish
white, becoming nearly pure white on cheeks, chest, and
inside of hind legs. The upper part of the muzzle, crown,
and outer side of each limb and the entire plantar surface
of each foot is tinged a clear pale sienna. On the^ backs of
the ears the sienna is much deeper and stronger. Begin-
ning on the muzzle between the eyes are many black-tipped
hairs, which increase in length and number and continue
overhead, upper neck, shoulder, and back to the basal third
of the tail, where they end in a black spot an inch wide
and two inches long. After this the tail hairs are faintly
tipped brownish-black; the tail itself ending in a dark tip
of blackish hairs, with a few white ones interspersed. The
under fur is brownish gray on the under parts, becoming
much darker on. the limbs and much browner and darker
on upper parts generally. The dark spot on the tail near
its base is formed by a curious tuft of black-tipped hairs,
below which there is no wool or under-fur, but evidently
a skin-odor gland. The claws are dark horn color. Indi-
viduals are found of every shade,, from white deep yellow
and almost black. Its size, short tail, short, wide spread
ears, and pale, straw-colored eyes are characteristic.
(Seton.) When seen at home, the gray wolf can readi-
ly be distinguished from the coyote, even at a distance, by
the way it carries its tail — pointed above the horizon.
(Hornaday.)

Distribution — In 1915, bounty was paid on 72 wolves
in Utah in the following counties: Carbon 3, Duchesne 2,
Grand 17, Kane 1, Rich 15, San Juan 3, Summit 2, Uintah 9,
Wasatch 19, and Weber 1. In 1916 bounty was paid on 79
wolves as follows: Carbon county 13, Duchesne 5, Emery
2, Grand 8, Juab 1, Rich 5, San Juan 26, Sevier 4, Uintah 12,
Wayne 1. The gray wolf is almost extinct in the St. George
district though one was recently taken near Leny's ranch
about twelve miles from Enterprise. This wolf had been

MAMMALS OF UTAH

115

doing considerable damage, it being estimated that it killed
twenty-five head of cattle during the past year. (Clinton
Milne.) It is estimated by A. W. Jensen that there are
30 wolves in the Uinta forest.

A gray wolf was killed in the limits of Salt Lake City
in July, 1918. According to William M. Anderson of Vernal
the gray wolf is very scarce in that country. Occasionally
one is taken by a trapper, but wolves do not remain long in
that vicinity. C. A. Mattsson of Salina says : "A few years
ago there were a number of gray wolves on the East Desert
and on the Thousand Lake Mountain. These wolves killed
a number of cattle on the desert each winter and took at
least 50 per cent of the calf crop during the summer. The
large bounties offered by stockmen induced two trappers
to spend part of two winters in the desert. They killed
two large wolves and eleven pups. There are a few remain-
ing in that vicinity."

S. B. Locke says that wolves occur on the east side of
the La Sal mountains, in Dry Valley and both north and
south of Blue mountains. They do considerable damage in
Hart Draw and in the region south of Elk mountains.

Habits — When buffaloes roamed in countless numbers
over the American plains, thousands of gray wolves stalked
in their wake, devouring the lagging weak and tearing the
eyes out of the old bulls, which were too strong to be van-
quished save by hours of torture and laceration. As the
herds of majestic buffaloes succumbed to the encroachment
of man, the gray wolves for a time faced extinction; but
cattle ranges and an acquired wariness of man at last placed
them on a permanent basis once again.

Probably no other animal has so wide an individual
range, for being a swift footed flesh eater the gray wolf
necessarily covers a big field in his wanderings. Wolves
are the most sociable of beasts of prey; packs of dozens
sometimes being seen engaged in the same hunt.

The wolf mating season begins the last week of Janu-
ary and lasts until the first week of March; it is probable
that pairs are formed for life as it is certain that the male
assists in raising the cubs. Two old wolves, never more,
hover about a single den.

The den is usually a natural cave, a hollow log or
stump, or a hole in the ground dug out by the parents.
A badger hole may be enlarged, but in any case the bed is
placed close to the surface and is never lined even though
hay and other suitable material be plentiful. Lining har-

116

MAMMALS OF UTAH

bors parasites. The period of gestation is 63 days, and the
young, 3 to 13, but usually 6 or 7, are blind at birth and
even until the ninth day.

A wolf mother will never kill and eat her young as will
a coyote at times. In fact a coyote will eat her own young
when they have died from other causes. Cases are known
where one female wolf has adopted the young of another
mother who had for some cause been compelled to leave
them. When born the young whine and are answered by
the mother in the same tone.

Wolves fear man and rifles these days; and a wolf
would rather starve than touch a carcass on which has been
left a horseshoe, handkerchief or something of the sort.

A gray wolf is the shyest animal that roams the Utah
wilds, not even the cougar being more wary. In the days
of bows and arrows human beings were attacked by wolves ;
but such occurrences are very rare now. A few years back,
however, a boy at Price, Utah, was molested for a time by a
wolf that sprang beside his horse, but no harm was done.

A wolf's menu consists of everything from mouse to
moose. It gorges on mice during the summer; but it has
to stalk bigger game when the snow flies. It eats carrion
readily ; and will watch all day beside its buried cache. All
wolves roll on carrion as do dogs seemingly enjoying reeking
in the foulest stench. Yet they will lick blood stains, pull
out burrs and otherwise clean themselves.

The usual cry of a wolf is a long, smooth howl, musical
but weird, and quite indistinguishable from the howl of a
large dog. When on the chase its call vibrates between
two notes and becomes a combination of short barks and a
howl at the finish.

A single wolf can whip any number of dogs; in fact
its jaws are so strong that one has been known to cut a
half inch lasso rope through with one snap.

The pursuit of the wolf, where the animals are at all
numerous, is a very profitable employment. The state and
cattle association bounties sometimes reach as high as
$100.00 for each animal killed. The pelts are worth from
$1.00 to $28.00 each according to size and quality.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

117

ROBBER COYOTE: MOUNTAIN
COYOTE

CANIS LESTES (Merriam)

Canis lestes Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XI, 1897, p. 25.

Description — Size medium; ears and tail large; color
similar to C.latrans; skull and teeth medium. Muzzle pale
cinnamon rufous ; top of head grizzled gray and ochraceous,
crown, nape, and ears fulvous ; rest of upper parts grayish
buffy mixed with black; under parts whitish tinged with
buff on belly; ruff tipped with black; fore and hind legs
buffy ochraceous on outer side, whitish on inner, and on
hind feet ; tail broadly tipped with black ; white beneath on
basal third, ochraceous on remainder, the hairs tipped with
black towards the black tip. (Elliot.)

Distribution — Southern British Columbia through
Washington and Oregon to the plateau of northern Arizona
and New Mexico, and to the Mexican boundary.

Habits — The habits of this' large, dark, richly colored
coyote are not unlike those of the coyote of the plains and
valleys but its prey is somewhat different, consisting chiefly
of dusky grouse, cottontails, and snowshoe rabbits and
including also many deer and fawns. (Gary.)

NOLAND'S RANCH COYOTE

CANIS ESTOR (Merriam)

Canis estor Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XI, 1897, p. 31.

Description — Size small, color pale; carnassial and mo-
lar teeth small. Muzzle pale fulvous, top of head gray and
buff; upper parts buffy mixed with black; under parts
whitish ; ruff conspicuously black-tipped ; outer side of fore
legs bright buff, pale on inner side, and on fore feet ; outer
side of hind legs and feet buffy ochraceous; inner side of
hind leg and upper surface of hind foot white; under side
of tail ochraceous, white basally, hairs of distal half tipped
with black; tip of tail black. (Elliot.)

Distribution — Deserts of eastern California, Nevada
and Utah. The type locality of this species is Noland's
Ranch, San Juan River, Utah.

In order to show the general distribution and numbers
of coyotes in Utah it will be necessary to give only the

118

MAMMALS OF UTAH

report of the bounty paid during the year 1916. During
that year bounties were paid for the destruction of 18,515
coyotes for the following counties : Beaver, 864 ; Box Elder,
2133; Cache, 355; Carbon, 210; Davis, 52; Duchesne, 360;
Emery, 522; Garfield, 370; Grand, 164; Iron, 2356; Juab,
1017 ; Kane, 377 ; Millard, 2105 ; Morgan, 171 ; Piute, 256 ;
Rich, 429; Salt Lake, 282; San Juan, 338; Sanpete, 682;
Sevier, 447 ; Summit, 652 ; Tooele, 985 ; Uintah, 1136 ; Utah,
745; Wasatch, 590; Washington, 399; Wayne, 298, and
Weber, 220. Under the vigilant work of the Biological
Survey there has recently been a marked decrease in the
number of coyotes in this state.

Habits — Coyotes are less courageous and have less of
the social instinct than gray wolves, and on the rare occas-
ions when they do hunt in packs they form, no doubt, a
family party, including the young of the year. They appear
to pair more or less permanently and commonly hunt in
couples. The young, sometimes numbering as many as
fourteen, are born in a burrow dug in a bank, or in a den
among broken rocks and ledges. Young animals are readi-
ly tamed, and it is entirely probable that some of the dogs
found by early explorers among Western Indians may have
descended from coyotes. (Nelson.)

Coyote skins are worth from $1.00 to $28.00 each
according to size and quality. These are the prices offered
by the raw fir dealers of St. Louis.

LONG-TAILED FOX: WESTERN
RED FOX

VULPES FULVA MACROURA (Baird)

Vulpes Utah Aud. and Bach. Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. V, June 30, 1852;

N. A. Quad. Ill, 1853, 255.
Vulpes macrourus Baird, Stansb., Expl. Great Salt Lake, Utah,

1852, p. 309.

Vulpes pennsylvanica macroura Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm.
F. C. M. Pub., 11, 1901, p. 305.

Description — This magnificent fox, the finest species
known, is an inhabitant of the central portions of North
America, and is eminently remarkable for the beauty and
excellence of its fur. Very similar in general appearance
to the common red fox, its superiority in size will at once
readily distinguish it. In the light variety the prevailing
tint is rather a pale ochre yellow than a red, whence the

MAMMALS OF UTAH

119

Map No. 23.— Range of Western Red Fox (VULPES FULVA MACROURA
Baird) in Utah. Based on map of E. T. Seton and records by Claude
T. Barnes.

120

MAMMALS OF UTAH

species might with great propriety be called the yellow fox.
The yellow is brightest anteriorly on the sides; there is,
however, a wash of reddish along the dorsal line. The
hinder part of the back is variegated with yellowish white,
this color annulating the long hairs, which are otherwise
black at the base and rufous at the tip. The under fur is
everywhere plumbeous at base, and of a chestnut color
terminally along the dorsal line, changing through ochre
yellow to yellowish white on the sides. There is, however,
a darker yellowish cross on the shoulders, separating the
yellowish white of the sides of body and neck. The upper
part of the head is grizzled like the lower part of the back.
The throat, chest, and under parts generally, including the
whole belly and inside of legs and thighs are of a clear,
yellowish white without any red, the plumbeous base of the
wool showing occasionally through. The amount of white
is thus greater than in the red fox. The base of the ears is
yellow; the greater portion, however, of their convexity is
uniform black. The tail is of a duller yellow than the body,
lighter on the sides, the long hairs tipped with black, cloud-
ing the tail with this color; the tip of the tail is entirely
yellowish white. The fore feet are black ; on the hind feet,
however, this color only extends in a narrow line on the
anterior face. Nose to tip of tail, 33 inches. (Baird, type
from Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City.)

(2) BLACK FOX: SILVER FOX
VULPES FULVA ARGENT AT A (Shaw)

Canis argentatus Shaw, Sen, ZooL, 1, 1800, p. 325,
Vulpes pennsylvanica argentata Elliot, Syn. N, Am. Mamm.
F. C. M. Pub., 11, 1901, p, 304.

Description — Uniform lustrous black with a distinct
white tip to the tail. On -the top and sides of the head,
however, and on the posterior half of the back, including the
outside of the thighs, the long hairs are grayish-silvery at
the end (the extreme tips black) grizzling the back very
conspicuously. The same feature is observable at the base
of the tail and to some distance on the sides ; it is also seen
slightly on the shoulders. The under fur is of a sooty color,
not very dark, however, and becoming lighter on the sides
of the neck and flanks. (Baird.) Like the cross fox, this
is only a color phase of the typical red fox, but commercially
the two forms are so distinct, and so sharply defined in

MAMMALS 0 FUTAH

121

dollars and cents that they demand separate notice. This
form inhabits the same localities as the cross fox, and is
much given to mixing with it, whch causes many variations
from their standard colors toward the typical red fox.
(Hornaday.)

(3) CROSS FOX

VULPES FULVUS DECUSSATUS (Desmarest)

Canis decassatus Desm. Mamm., 1, 1820, p. 203.

Description — The cross fox is so called from the pres-
ence of a black cross formed by a dark band along the back,
crossed by another on the shoulder. In general form it
resembles the red variety closely, but is perhaps a little
larger with more bushy tail. The under surface of the
feet likewise are more densely covered with wooly hair.
There is a good deal of yellowish rufous visible on the back
and sides, which is quite vivid on the flanks and side of the
neck. The upper part of the head (exclusive of muzzle)
the posterior half of the back, with the outside of the shoul-
ders and thighs, have the basal fur a dusky brown, darkest
on the median line, the long hairs black, with a broad sub-
terminal annulation of yellowish white of a much grayer
tint on the head and shoulders, which variegates the color
very much. The dorsal region between the shoulders is
also similarly marked; but a great preponderance of black
evident at the upper parts of the shoulders, causes the
appearance of a black cross at this point. The sides of the
neck and of the body are pure reddish yellow, the basal fur
being nearly white. This color extends toward the median
line of the back, just behind the shoulders, leaving an inter-
val of only a few inches on the middle of the back, and
relieving very much the posterior angles of the cross. The
muzzle, legs and under parts generally, including the inside
of the limbs, with the convexity of the ears, are black.
The long tail hairs are grayish or yellowish red, and black
at their tips, impressing this color on the exterior of the
tail; the tip of the tail, however, is entirely white. (Baird.)
"In my opinion a really typical cross fox is the handsomest
fox in the world, far more beautiful than the much sought
'silver fox.' " (Hornaday.)

Distribution — The three varieties mentioned above are
considered here together for the reason that the cross and
the black foxes are really only color phases of the red

122

MAMMALS OF UTAH

fox, the type specimen of which was taken near Salt^Lake
City. Though the red fox is now and then seen pretty
much throughout the State of Utah, very few people see
them often enough to make many observations concerning
them. One record I have of the occurrence of the black
fox in this state is the account given me by Brigham
Spencer of Moab; but the evidence is unquestionable. He
states: "I was dairying in the Aquarius Plateau, Garfield
County, Utah, in 1890. I was gathering calves one morn-
ing near the top of the mountain when I saw a black fox
run into a hole beneath a spruce tree. As I approached
she was very vicious; so I killed her. I then discovered
five pups in the den. I killed them also. They were all
coal black all over except a white tip at the end of the tail
and a little whitish on each hip. I showed them to my
family and to others in the neighborhood where they at-
tracted considerable attention as no one had before seen
foxes of that color. It was not until too late that we
learned the great value of the pelts."

Several cross foxes have been taken from the Middle
Desert near the Thousand Lake Mountain. Dr. Hornaday
states in his invaluable work that the cross fox is "occas-
ionally found in Idaho and Utah," though he informs me
that at this late date he cannot recall upon just what data
the statement was based, adding, however, **in view of the
occasional occurences of cross foxes as color phases of
Vulpes macrourus, the type locality of which is Utah, it is
perfectly certain that before they were all killed off, cross
foxes occured in Utah."

It is largely through the efforts of Dr. Hornaday and
a few others that America is fast awakening to the fact
that unless a halt is called on indiscriminate shooting there
will soon be very few large mammals left except in mu-
seums.

S. B. Locke says that a black fox has been seen several
times the past few years in the La Sal mountains.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall informs me that about eighteen years
ago he received two black fox skins and eight cross foxes
from some trappers who had been working at the head of
the Duchesne river. The black skins were dressed and
sold to a New York tourist for $400 each. He reports the
cross fox as not at all uncommon, and the red fox affords
a constant supply. He has almost every color gradation
in his possession, all taken from Utah.

Habits — Their bill of fare includes many items, as
mice, birds, reptiles, insects, many kinds of fruits, and on
rare occasions a chicken. The bad name borne by them

MAMMALS OF UTAH

123

among farmers, due to occasional raids on the poultry yard,
is largely unwarranted. They kill enormous numbers of
mice and other small rodents each year, and thus well repay
the loss of a chicken now and then. Red foxes apparently
pair for life and occupy dens dug by themselves in a se-
cluded knoll or among rocks. These dens, which are some-
times occupied for years in succession, always have two
or more entrances opening in opposite directions, so that an
enemy entering on one side may be readily eluded. The
young, numbering up to eight or nine, are tenderly cared
for by both parents. (Nelson.)

The prices at present paid by the raw fur dealers of
St. Louis for fox are as follows: Black fox, $800.00 each
for extra large and fine pelts; $500.00 each for large;
$350.00 each for medium; $200.00 each for small, and as
low as $10.00 for damaged or inferior skins. Silver fox,
$550.00 each for extra large and fine; $400.00 for large;
$275.00 for medium ; $175.00 for small, and as low as $7.50
for damaged and inferior skins. Cross fox (dark), $150.00
for extra large and fine; $110.00 for large; $70.00 each for
medium; $40.00 each for small, and as low as $3.00 each
for damaged or worn skins. The pale cross fox pelts range
in price from $75.00 each down to $1.50.

SCOTT'S GRAY FOX

UROCYON CINEREO-ARGENTEUS SCOTTI (Mearns)

Urocyon cinereo-argenteus scotti Mearns, Bull. Am. Mus.
Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1891, p. 236.

Description — Color above grizzled gray, many of the
hairs black-tipped, especially along the middle of the back ;
upper half of back of ears gray, lower fulvous ; chin and side
of upper jaw black, except white spot at tip of latter;
throat and belly white, bordered by fulvous and an indefi-
nite patch or band of same ; front of forelegs gray, back ful-
vous; tail above gray with prominent black stripe, below
fulvous. Length 39.4 inches ; tail, vert., 16.2 inches ; hmd
foot, 5.5 inches. (Warren.)

Distribution— A few specimens of the gray fox have
been taken in Garfield County, Utah ; and B. E. Mattsson
reports that several have been trapped along the summit
of the Manti forest. J. W. Humphrey says that the trap-
pers of the Biological Survey have frequently trapped them

124

MAMMALS OF UTAH

in the lava country near Panguitch. A. W. Jensen has
found them in the Uintah forest. This fox is found in
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and
and Chihuahua, Mexico. Like other foxes, it lives on wood
rats, rabbits, mice, and other small mammals and birds.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall has dressed several skins of this
species, sent him from Iron county. S. B. Locke says that
they are well distributed over the La Sal national forest.

Habits — Gray foxes do not regularly dig a den, but
occupy a hollow tree or cavity in the rocks, where they
bring forth from three to five young each year. As with
other foxes, the young are born blind and helpless, and are
also almost blackish in color, entirely unlike the adults.
The parents, as usual with all members of the dog family,
are devoted to their young and care for them with the
utmost solicitude. Like other members of the tribe, they
are omniverous and feed upon mice, squirrels, rabbits, birds, '
and large insects, in addition to acorns or other nuts and
fruits of all kinds. (Nelson.)

KIT FOX: SWIFT

VULPES VELOX (Say)

Canis velox Say, Long's Exped. Rocky Mts., 1, 1823, p. 487.
Canis vinereo-argentatus Sabin, Frankl. Narr. Journ. Polar

Sea, 1823, p. 658.
Canis microtus Reichenb., Wagn. in Weigm. Archiv. Ill, 1837,

II, p. 162.

Vulpes velox Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub., II,
1901, p. 306.

Description — This small fox is considerably less in
size than the red or gray fox. The fur is remarkably full
and dense, much more so than in the red fox, and the inter-
spersed longer hairs exceed in length the under fur so little
as to permit it to be readily seen. The limbs are rather
short but stout, the feet shorter and the body lower than
in the red fox. The tail is rather short in its proportions,
scarcely more than half as long as the head and body. It
is, however, remarkably dense and bushy, being made up
principally of under fur, instead of having its contour de-
termined by the long hairs. There are no strongly marked
contrasts of color in this diminutive fox. The entire upper
parts and sides, extending low down on the thighs and
shoulders, are conspicuously grizzled with pale grayish

MAMMALS OF UTAH

125

white and brownish yellow, mixed with a little dark brown
or black. The under fur in these regions is light plumbeous
at base, and light brownish chocolate yellow at tip, these
tints becoming paler towards the sides. The long stiffer
hairs are dark brown (more reddish at the extreme tip) and
broadly annulated near the tip with yellowish gray white;
there is, however, an occasional hair that is entirely black.
The under fur on the top of the head has more reddish on
the terminal portion. The under parts generally, for their
entire width, as well as the inside of the limbs, are yellow-
ish white. On the sides of the neck and body, extending
some distance up behind the shoulders, the hairs are of a
pale reddish yellow, without annulation, this color also
tinging strongly the forearm and posterior face of the hind
leg; the rest of the legs, except as described, is of a pale
brownish white. There is a dusky tinge around the lips,
and a patch of the same between the eye and the nose, above
the insertion of the whiskers, which are themselves black.
The ears are uniform brownish yellow on their convexity;
anteriorly yellowish white. The tail, in general tint, resem-
bles the back, except that there is no distnict annulation
the prevailing hue being a yellowish gray. There is a con-
siderable amount of black on the tips of the hairs, but this
is much less conspicuous than in the red and gray foxes.
There is most black at the truncate tip. The under surface
of the tail is tinged with yellowish red. Length from nose
to tail 24 inches ; from tail to end of vertebrae 9 inches ;
height of ear above notch 1% inches. (Baird.) In summer
specimens the fur is shorter on all parts of the body and
the feet are thinly haired.

Distribution — Several years ago a kit fox was killed

at the New State Gun Club in Davis county a few miles
north of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mr. F. A. Wrathall, who
dressed the skin, informs me that he receives the kit fox
continually from nearly all parts of northern Utah. He
has a fine skin, taken at Wendover, in the western part
of the state. This fox is not at all uncommon so far as
foxes go in this state. Gerald Thorne tells me that this
fox is frequently trapped in the Uinta basin; and he has
one in his possession which was taken at Jensen, Utah, in
1908.

Habits — The swift fox is the smallest and daintiest
of all our foxes. Owing to the readiness with which it eats
poisoned meat that has been put out for wolves, it has
already become very scarce. In spite of its name, it does
not run with remarkable swiftness. (Hornaday.)

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

Family URSIDAE, Bears

Subfamily URSINAE

UTAH GRIZZLY

URSUS UTAHENSIS (Merriam)

Ursus utahensis Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXVII,
pp. 193-194, 1914.

Description — Size large; coloration apparently normal.
Skull long, narrow, and high, but not arched; fronto-nasal
region high and very narrow — strongly pinched in. Color —
Skin of male on Pine Valley Mountain, southwest Utah
(obtained from forest ranger, September 24, 1907, by Clar-
ence Birdseye) Muzzle pale brown ; face and throat, except
pale lip edgings and long hairs of median line of throat,
dark brown, becoming grizzled posteriorly; top of head
very dark; grizzled posteriorly by brown-tipped hairs.
Cranial characters : Adult male (type and equally old male
from northeast corner Sevier National Forest) Size large;
skull very long, high, and exceedingly narrow; zygomata
moderately spreading and outbowed ; frontal shield narrow,
flattened posteriorly, falling away laterally immediately in
front of orbits, leaving a high fronto-nasal ridge; short
pointed posteriorly; sagittal crest long and high, reaching
anteriorly nearly to mid way between fronto-parietal suture
and plane of postorbital processes; postorbital processes
very long, slender, peglike, and horizontally extended; ros-
trum long, high, rather narrow, and strongly compressed
below nasals ; palate and postpalatal shelf exceedingly long ;
postpalatal shelf and notch narrow; interpterygoid fossa
exceptionally deep; basisphenoid strongly concave. Under
jaw very long, ramus flat and exceedingly broad vertically ;
large coronoid blade high and moderately recurved. Denti-
tion light for so large a skull; canines rather small; upper
and lower molariform series medium or rather small; mid-
dle lower molar decidedly narrow. (Merriam.)

Distribution — The type locality of this species is the
North Fork of Salina Creek, ten or twelve miles southeast of
Mayfield, Utah, where the type specimen was collected
May 22, 1911, by Mart Martenson. The range of this
grizzly includes the southern Wasatch and all of the Pine
Valley mountains though the further limits are unknown.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

127

BAIRD GRIZZLY

URSUS HORRIBILIS BAIRDI (Merriam)

Ursus bairdi Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. XXVII, pp 192-
193, 1914.

Ursus horribilis bairdi Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 41, p. 19,
1918.

Description — Size large — in the Rocky mountain region
exceeded only, if at all, by horribilis ; skull long, with narrow
elevated fronto-nasal region; claws of moderate length,
smooth. Cranial characters — Old male (type) from Blue
River, Colorado. Size large; fronto-nasal region high and
rather narrow; rostrum rather long, narrow and strongly
compressed in front of orbits; face long sloping; frontal
shield flat, short pointed, faintly depressed medially ; shield
and nasals in essentially same plane except that anterior
third of nasals is slightly upturned; postorbital processes
large, outstanding, flat, and blunt; orbital rims prominent;
sagittal crest moderately high posteriorly; temporal im-
pression shorts, incurved, beaded; zygomata strongly out-
bowed, squarely spreading posteriorly; lachrymal duct
notching orbital rim; squamosal shelf front, arched over
meatus, the free edge thickened; palate and postpalatal
shelf of moderate breadth ; mastoids rather long, divergent.
(Merriam.)

Distribution — Southern Rocky Mountain region from
San Juan mountains, southwestern Colorado, northward
through Wyoming to Montana, and perhaps to southeastern
British Columbia.

In July, 1918, Dr. Merriam wrote me as follows : "The
grizzly of the Wasatch mountains is still open to question,
but a not fully adult male killed in the Uintas by Vernon
Bailey some years ago appears to be Ursus Bairdi. There
is a skull of an adult male grizzly of the planiceps group
in the Utah Museum, but no one seems to know where the
animal was killed. It is possible of course that the two
species occured in the Wasatch."

For some years Dr. Merriam has been working on the
grizzly and big brown bears of North America, accumu-
lating for comparison during that time at Washington a
collection of bear skulls that far excell all other collections
in the world together. Thus far he has separated the griz-
zly and brown bears into 98 forms and has added one new
genus. There is a great need for specimens from Utah,
Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado; and until further material
is furnished full determinations cannot be made. It may

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MAMMALS OF UTAH

be said, however, that some of the brown bears, which for
years were regarded as merely color phases of the black
bear, may have been grizzlies; though few hunters mistake
a grizzly when he sees one. The terrible claws of the adult
grizzly at once distinguish him from the black bear. It is
unfortunate that at this time merely the technical descrip-
tions can be given; but Dr. Merriam has based his classi-
fication chiefly on cranial characters, which are probably
the most reliable points of difference.

The grizzly bear is not nearly so uncommon in Utah
as one would naturally suppose from reports of the general
scarcity of the animal in the West. Several have been killed
in recent years on the Aquarius Plateau and in the Pan-
guitch mountains, Garfield county. B. E. Mattsson of
Ephraim says that eight grizzlies have been killed in the
Manti forest in the past seven years. J. W. Humphrey of
Panguitch reports that grizzlies are found occasionally in
that section. In March, 1916, R. Jolley and C. Riddle of
Coyote, Utah, killed a grizzly of enormous size ; it was esti-
mated that for several seasons this bear had killed over
fifty cattle a year in Garfield county. E. C. Shepard of
Logan says that ten or twelve grizzlies are known to in-
habit the rugged portion of the Ashley forest. A few
years ago grizzlies were not uncommon in the Fish Lake
district, but now they have been almost exterminated, ac-
cording to C. A. Mattsson of Salina. George H. Barney of
Escalante reports that twelve or fifteen grizzlies have been
killed in the Escalante forest during the past few ydars.
A. W. Jensen reports that a few still exist in the Uinta
mountains. A few years ago grizzlies were trapped every
season in Hardscrabble Canyon, about fifteen miles east of
Salt Lake City, by Dan Bodily of Kaysville, while John
Burton of Kaysville, Utah, has killed several in the same
vicinity. At the State Capitol is a small mounted grizzly
that was taken from the vicinity of Coalville in 1920.

Habts — Ferocious, quick-tempered, and incredibly
powerful, the grizzly bear is without doubt the most dan-
gerous animal in America; in fact, excepting possibly the
reckless rhinoceros of Africa, it is more defiant than any
other wild beast of the world. Man, however, is fast wear-
ing the animal's spirit down; and one must seek the re-
motest wilds to find the real, terrible grizzly of early days.

From the earliest date this great bear has entered
somewhat into the frontier history of the country. The
Indians held it in awe and reverence, never venturing to
hunt it alone. In fact, when in search of it, they invariably

MAMMALS OF UTAH

129

went in parties of from twenty to thirty, each hunter
armed with a long spear. Upon sighting the grizzly lick-
ing its paws they would approach quite closely and form
a double line away from it. One Indian would then disturb
the bear, and, upon being chased, run down between the
rows of men, who, in turn, would spear it as it chased
between them.

Roosevelt says that the word ''grizzly" does not refer
to the color of the animal, but should be spelled "grisly,"
meaning terrifying or horrible. He, however, cites no au-
thority for his statement.

In the early days the grizzly bear preyed upon the
buffalo ; but now it is found only in the wildest mountains.
The old hunter had only a single barreled rifle, and had
to make the one shot count. One bullet will not, however,
usually stop a grizzly; in fact, one was once shot eight
times through the head and twice through the heart, yet it
swam half a mile thereafter and survived twenty minutes I
The grizzly cubs sometimes climb trees but a full grown
grizzly cannot climb.

The modern rifle has been too much for the grizzly,
which, today, except in the very wildest regions, shuns man
and seeks safety in seclusion. Cornered, however, he is as
indomitable and ferocious as ever, fighting with his ghastly
teeth and massive ripping claws as long as a breath of
life is in him. Hornaday says that a wounded grizzly
usually runs down hill and that this accounts for some
charges towards the hunter below, which might not have
taken place had the hunter been to one side.

So powerful is the grizzly that in the bull rings of
early California, one bear has been known to kill six bulls in
an afternoon. The maddened bear would rise upon its
hind legs as the bellowing bull with lowered head would
come upon him ; and then, at a favorable moment, the bear
would strike the bull dead with a blow between the eyes.

During may the grizzly eats snow lilies, roots and
grass ; in June and July, ants and edible roots ; in August,
berries such as strawberries and service berries; in Sep-
tember, huckleberries, blue berries and black currants as
well as wild pea vines ; and in October, gophers and Hedysa-
rum roots. At times, however, it eats cattle, deer, elk,
wild plums, mast, honey, fish, pigs, carrion, and, according
to Hornaday, one of its own kind if it finds it dead.

Grizzly bears are gregarious, that is, they roam fre-
quently in numbers together. Indians say that they some-
times found a grizzly bear killed by a mountain lion but
never a mountain lion killed by a grizzly.

130

MAMMALS OF UTAH

The grizzly's cubs, usually two, almost hairless and
poorly formed, are born in the winter den in the middle of
January. They are ten inches long, 18 ounces in weight
and blind as well as helpless. The period of gestation is
about 266 days — from April 22 to January 13.

The strength of a grizzly is shown by the fact that
one carried the carcass of a heifer for fifteen miles and
as fast as most men can run. Others have been seen to
carry a full grown pig in its forearms and mouth as easily
as a boy would carry a cat.

BLACK BEAR

URSUS AMERICANUS (Pallas)
Ursus americanus Pallas, Spicileg. ZooL, fasc. XIV, 1780, p. 5.

Description — The typical black bear of eastern America
is deep, glossy black everywhere, excepting the muzzle,
which is more or less brown, and the white spot sometimes
seen on the breast. As one nears the Mississippi various
shades of cinnamon brown are found, and in the Rocky
mountains fully a quarter of the bears are of the cinnamon
variety. This difference of color, however, does not mean
a difference of species ; they are mere freaks or sports of
the black race. A black bear may have cinnamon young
this year and black the next, or even one of each kind in the
same litter. So also a cinnamon mother may give birth to
either black or cinnamon young. (Seton.) Female of ave-
rage size: Snout to tail tip, 63.5 inches; tail 5; hind foot,
7.25 ; height at shoulders, 25.5 ; weight, 2271/2 pounds.
Black bears readily climb trees; but grizzlies cannot.

Distribution — Clinton Milne informs me that there are
but few black bears in the St. George district, though sev-
eral are killed from time to time. Milton Moody killed one
in Pine Valley mountains a few years ago, which had cov-
ered three mountain ranges and killed many cattle and
sheep. B. E. Mattsson of Ephraim reports that seventy-
seven black bears have been killed in the Manti forest dur-
ing the past seven years; very few remain there. J. W.
Humphrey of Panguitch says that a few are found in the
inaccessible places of the Sevier forest and are not numer-
ous enough to be a menace to livestock.

Black Bears are, however, fairly plentiful in the Vernal
country, according to William M. Anderson; and twenty

MAMMALS OF UTAH

131

or thirty are left in the Escalante forest where they range
principally to the south and east. A. W. Jensen estimates
that fifty or more exist in the Uintah forest while E. C.
Shepard says there are about a hundred in Cache national
forest. I have found them at the head of City Creek canyon
only a dozen miles from Salt Lake City; and in 1917 a
hunter took seven out of the canyon just above Bountiful,
Davis County, Utah. I have also encountered them on
the mountains above Richmond, Cache County. They are
quite plentiful in Hardscrabble canyon just over the divide
from the head of City Creek Canyon above Salt Lake City.
In 1916 bounty was paid on 146 bears killed in the follow-
ing counties: Cache 7, Carbon 21, Duchesne 18, Emery 4,
Juab 2, Morgan 4, Summit 17, Uintah 14, Utah 29, Wasatch
15 and Weber 4. In 1915, 193 were killed as follows: Box
Elder 1, Cache 18, Carbon 6, Davis 2, Emery 7, Garfield 8,
Grand 7, Morgan 18, Rich 6, Salt Lake 3, San Pete 25, Sum-
mit 11, Uintah 15, Utah 21, Wasatch 28, Wayne 8, Weber 9.

A mammoth black bear was killed near Heber City
several years ago by Isaac McDonald. It is said to have
weighed nearly 800 pounds ; and Mr. F. A. Wrathall of Salt
Lake City, who dressed the skin, found it to be larger than
any grizzly pelt he had ever worked on.

S. B. Locke says that black bears occur at the head of
Pack Creek, Mill Creek and Castle Creek in La Sal national
forest; around Shay mountain and at the head of North
Cottonwood Creek in the Blue mountains. Several are
killed there every year.

Black bear skins bring the hunter from $1.50 to $35.00
each; the brown skins, from $1.00 to $28.00 each, and the
cubs, from $1.00 to $20.00 each.

Family PROCYONIDAE, Racoons, Coatis, etc.
Subfamily PROCYONINAE

RACOON-FOX: RING-TAIL: CIVET FOX

BASSARISCUS ASTUTUS (Lichtenstein)

Bassaris astuta Licht., Isis, 1831, p. 513.

Bassariscus astutus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. P. II,
1901, p. 316.

Description — Body slender, elongate; muzzle pointed,
tail long, bushy; claws half retractile; skull long, slender;
postorbital process of frontal bone short; upper sectorial
with inner cusp much developed; anterior cusp of lower

132

MAMMALS OF UTAH

I

MAMMALS OF UTAH

133

sectorial shortest. Above yellowish brown and gray mixed ;
below white. Legs and feet like the body. Tail, white with
six or eight alternate black rings. (Elliot.) Total length
28 inches; tail vert., 13; hind foot 2.3. (Warren.)

Distribution — California, Arizona, southern Utah, New
Mexico, Colorado, Texas. Several years ago Andrew Hol-
man killed a ring-tail near Vernal; and this is the only
actual record I have of its occurrence in this state. Nelson
includes southern Utah in his description of the range of
this species. Several have been taken in adjacent portions
of Colorado. S. B. Locke, however, informs me that they
occur in the La Sal national forest, prefering low elevations.

Habits — The ring-tail is known as ''civet cat," "coon
cat," ''band-tail cat," "cacomixtle" (in Mexico), and "babi-
suri" (in Lower California). It is about the size of a large
cat, but with proportionately longer and slenderer body,
shorter legs, and longer tail. The alternating bands of
black and white on the tail proclaim its relationship, not
to the cat, to which it has no kindship, but to the racoon,
which has a tail similarly marked. Few mammals possess
such a beautifully formed head and face, and its large mild
eyes give it a vivid expression of intelligence. While chief-
ly rock-inhabiting species, they sometimes live in the forest
and as a rule make their dens in caves and deep crevices,
but sometimes in hollow trees or about houses. Their
young, from three to four in number, are born in May or
June. Like its relative, the racoon, the ring-tail takes
whatever edibles come its way. Its fare includes wood
rats, bats, birds, chickens, insects of many kinds, larvae,
centipedes, fruits (pear leaved cactus among others), green
corn. They are nocturnal and their visitation is detected
usually by the cat-like trails they leave. (Nelson.)

RACCOON

PROCYON LOTOR MEXICANUS (Baird)

Description — The word "racoon" is derived from the
Indian word "arocoun" by which this animal was known in
Virginia. The racoons have on each foot five well developed
toes with claws, the soles naked, the hind feet plantigrade ;
they have pointed nose and ears ; tail, rather long and bushy,
usually ringed. A male weighs about 18 pounds, a female
10 pounds. A typical Procyon lotor is described as follows :
In general a dull brownish gray, becoming yellower on the

134

MAMMALS OF UTAH

back, strongly yellow on nape and on tail, and a paler gray
on the belly and feet; on all the upper parts, especially
along the spine, the long hairs are black-tipped, and on the
under parts, they are white-tipped. On the cheek is a black
patch that includes the eye, and joins with the narrow
blackish stripe that runs from the nose to the dark color
on the forehead. Around this the face is dull white, whit-
est in a band above each eye; the lower back part of the
ear is black, which joins with a black patch on the neck
behind the ear — the tip of the ear behind is whitish. The
tail, beginning with the tip, has six to seven rings of very
dark brown or black on a pale yellowish background. The
under fur is dark brownish gray and shows much on the
under parts; the throat also is dark brownish gray; the
eyes are dark; the whiskers white. The sexes are alike.
Mexicanus is a large, pale gray race with long tail. (Seton.)

Distribution — This racoon ranges northward from the
Gulf of Mexico through New Mexico, the eastern half of
Arizona and into Utah. A few racoons are known to in-
habit the swamps, fields and streams near St. George, Utah.
According to Clinton Milne many are trapped there each
year, their pelts bringing an average of $1.75 each. He
states that they are very fond of grapes, which are ex-
tensively grown in that vicinity. Gerald Thorne of Logan
informs me that Peter Miller of Linwood, Utah, trapped a
racoon on the bank of Henry's Fork just below the Wyoming
line. Mr. Thorne had the skin in his possession just after
it was taken in the autumn of 1912. S. B. Locke reports
that racoons appear occasionally along the streams of south-
eastern Utah.

Habits — They everywhere seek the wooded shores of
streams and lakes and the bordering lowland forests, and
are expert climbers, commonly having their dens in hollow
trees, often in cavities high above the ground. In such
retreats they have annually from four to six young, which
continue to frequent this retreat until well grown, thus
accounting for the numbers often seen in the same cavity.
Their diet is extraordinarily varied, and iricludes fresh
water clams, crayfish, frogs, birds and their eggs, poultry,
nuts, fruits, and green corn. When near water they have
a curious and unique habit of washing their food before
eating it. They make good pets. (Nelson.)

Racoon skins bring the trapper from 25 cents to $9.00
each at St. Louis.

i

MAMMALS OF UTAH

135

Family MUSTELIDAE, Badgers, Weasels, Otters, etc.
Subfamily MELINAE

BADGER

TAXIDEA TAXUS (Schreber)

Ursus taxus Schreb., Saugth., Ill, 1778, p. 520. ^ ^„ok

Meles taxus var B. americanus Bodd., Elench., Anim., 1, 1785,
p. 136.

Ursus labradoria Geml., Syst. Nat. 1, 1788, p. 102.
Meles jeffersoni Harl., Faun. Am., 1825, p. 309. ^ ^ ^/r
Taxidea americana Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.
Pub. II, 1901, p. 320.

Description— The genus Taxidea comprises large ani-
mals of the weasel family (Mustelidae). They have thick,
heavy bodies, very short tails, short legs, front feet im-
mensely powerful, with long claws and developed for dig-
ging- ears, very short. Length, about 28 inches; tail, 5
inches. Weight 10 to 23 pounds. General color above, silver
gray each hair being yellowish white at base, then blackish
with' a white tip; neck, crown and muzzle above, brown;
cheeks, chin and stripe from nose over head to shoulders,
white; under parts generally yellowish-white; bar on each
cheek, back part of ear, and the feet, dull black ; tail, tinged
yellowish brown. When seen alive it looks like a small
bear that has been flattened somehow, colored silvery gray,
and adorned with black and white marks on the head.
(Seton.)

Distribution— The badger is found throughout the
State of Utah. A few are seen in the St. George district
but they are there decreasing. They are quite common
on the Manti forest, very common in the Cache forest, tairly
numerous in the Panguitch region and not very common in
the Ashley forest. They are quite numerous about Salma
and on the mountain ranges up to 8,000 feet. They are
found throughout the Escalante forest, the Uintah forest,
and are seen so often in Tooele county that efforts are being
made by those ignorant of their worth to exterminate them
on account of their undermining telephone poles They are
quite common within the city limits of Salt Lake City, their
burrows appearing in the adjacent canyons and on the
flats west of the city.

Habits— No animal better deserves the protection of
the farmer than does the badger. It lives Prmcipa^^^^^
prairie dogs, ground squirrels and other barmful rodents
HoTLy one acquainted with this animal's habits should

136

MAMMALS OF UTAH

desire to kill it, is beyond comprehension ; yet some farmers
will actually shoot badgers and at the same time complain
that they will have to give up their farms if something is
not done with the ground squirrels.

Mr. J. R. Stringham of Holden, Utah, has written me
some very interesting facts concerning the badger. He
says: "I saw in June, 1092, a badger walking with her
young, twelve miles northwest of Holden. I tried to cap-
ture her, but she put up such a fight that I could not, and
the young ones got into a hole about twenty-five yards
away. Two years ago I caught a very young one in the
timber country at the head of Snake Creek canyon on the
southeast of Jeff Davis mountain, near Baker, Nevada. It
was much less than a year old. Two years ago I followed
the tracks of a badger in the snow and found where it
had had a fight with two large coyotes. The snow was
about sixteen inches deep, and the battle had been long and
fierce, the badger apparently being the winner for he had
retreated to his den, about two miles distant, without the
loss of blood, while the coyotes had lost blood and had made
but short distances between the places where they had
stopped to lick their wounds and to rest. This winter has
been very well supplied with snow yet we have caught a
badger a day, when the sun has come out. Their dens
run straight into the side of the wash about four feet, and,
apparently have two openings, as the tracks lead from one
to the other, a distance of about one hundred feet. Their
dens cannot be detected by fresh diggings in the winter, as
they never step in the snow if they can help it. On the
sixth of January we found a den where the badgers had
been traveling all around in the deep snow. We followed
one for nearly a mile. I have known of persons having
badgers as pets."

Badger skins are worth from 10 cents to $5.00 each
according to size and condition.

GREAT BASIN SKUNK

MEPHITIS OCCIDENTALIS MAJOR (Howell)

Chincha occidentalis major Howell, N. Am. Faun. No. 20,
1901, p. 37.

Description — Color: Much as in occidentalis; white
stripes broad, bifurcating near the middle of the back, and
extending only a short distance on the tail, which is nearly
all black exteriorly.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

137

Distribution — Eastern Oregon, northern California, and
Nevada ; east to the Wasatch mountains in Utah. Speci-
mens have been taken at Ogden and at Provo.

Habits — Some animals protect themselves with sheer
strength, assisted by teeth and claws, some emit poisons
and some resort to flight, but excluding the spiny arma-
ment of the porcupine probably no defense is so immedi-
ately effective as the fetid odor thrown out by a threatened
skunk. It forfends the enemy as surely as the Aegis of
Minerva, for days and even weeks of foulness and smart
repay the unwise aggressor for his unprovoked attack.

The favorite environ of the skunk is the edge of woods
and marshes, where abundant food, warmth and shelter
can be found in the varied sunlight and shade. Its range
of activity is very small, seldom exceeding a radius of half
a mile.

Mating in March, the skunk, which is monogamous,
digs its den in a dry place on a hillside, or selects an aban-
doned badger, muskrat, or ground squirrel burrow. Towards
the end of April four to ten young are born, each the size
of a mouse, naked, and for a few days both deaf and blind.
Hairless as they are even at that time the white strips
reveals their identity. When a month old they are capable
of emitting the loathsome musk.

The food of the skunk consists of grasshoppers, crick-
ets, insects, mice, ground squirrels, frogs, eggs, rabbits,
and berries. Its enemies are few, the owls probably being
most feared.

Skunk skins are worth from 25 cents to $12.00 each.

ROCK SPOTTED SKUNK

SPILOGALE GRACILIS SAXATILIS (Merriam)

Spilogale saxatilis Merriam, N. A. F. No. 4, 1890, p. 13.

Description — Size, rather large ; tail, with hairs, longer
than head and body. External lateral stripes nearly obso-
lete and barely or not continuous with anterior transverse
stripes. In the type specimen, an adult male, none of the
markings are confluent. In an old female taken at the
same locality and date, the internal or middle dorsal stripes
are narrowly confluent posteriorly with the anterior trans-
serse stripes, and the caudal spots meet indistinctly across
the base of the tail. All of the other spots and markings

138

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 25.— Range of the Rock Spotted Skunk (SPILOGALE GRACILIS
SAXATALIS Merriam) in Utah. Based on the map of A. H. Howell.

1

MAMMALS OF UTAH

139

are distinct. Externally S. saxatilis may be distinguished
at a glance from its nearest geographical neighbor, S. gra-
cilis, by the inconspicuous and nearly obsolete lateral stripe.
In S. gracilis this stripe is large and broad and broadly con-
fluent with the anterior transverse stripe. (Merriam.)

Distribution — Utah, western Colorado, northern Ne-
vada, southern Idaho, eastern Oregon, and northeastern
California. The type locality of this species is Provo, Utah,
though several specimens have been taken at St. George,
and Professor Jones informs me that he has taken it at
Marysvale. S. B. Locke says it is rare in southeastern Utah.

Habits — The little spotted skunk, being more agile
than the larger members of the genis Mephitis, frequently
climb bushes. They prefer rocky situations, making their
homes in rock piles, cliff crevices, hollow logs, deserted bur-
rows, or bushy river bottoms. Some live beneath farm
buildings. They often dig small holes in search of insects.
They are strictly nocturnal, being seldom seen except on
moonlight nights, when their markings so blend with the
lights and shadows as to render them inconspicuous. Their
bite seldom produces ill effect. Their food consists of
insects (mostly beetles and grasshoppers), mice, lizards,
salamanders, small birds, crawfish, fungi, hen's eggs, wood
rats, house rats, and rarely squirrels. They do more good
than harm.

Subfamily MUSTELINAE

WOLVERINE: SKUNKBEAR:
GLUTTON: CARCAJOU

GULO LUSCUS (Linnaeus)

Mustela gulo Linn.. Syst. Nat. I, p. 45, 1758.
Ursus luscus Linn. Syst. Nat. I, p. 47, 1758.
Gulo luscus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901,
p. 333. Zool. Ser.

Descriptioni — General colour a deep blackish-brown,
paler and grayer on crown and cheeks ; a band of pale chest-
nut begins on each shoulder and passes backwards along the
sides to meet its fellow on the tail; these become nearly
white on the rump in some specimens ; the throat and chest
are more or less spotted with yellowish-white, which some-
times forms a large irregular patch; claws, whitish horn-

140

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 26.— Range of the Wolverine (GULO LUSCUS Linn.) in Utah.
Based on E. T. Seton's map and records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

141

#

colour. Sexes alike. (Seton.) The name "Skunkb.ear" is
commonly used in describing this species in the Rocky
Mountain region, because in size, color and shape it resem-
bles a cross between a skunk and a black bear.

Distribution — Boreal North America from the Atlantic
to Alaska, south to central and southern Utah.

Brigham Spencer of Moab, Utah, informs me that in
1893 he encountered two adult and two young wolverines
on Boulder Mountains, Garfield County, Utah. The animals
showed fight to such an extent that he succeeded in pro-
curing only one of the four. The last time he saw wolver-
ines in Garfield county was in 1897. Theodore Suholser of
Logan says that several wolverines have been trapped
there, and that there are some yet on the high timber
range from Idaho towards the Uintah mountains. He adds :
"The wolverines can raise more hell when caught in a trap
than any other animal three times its size. It is the strong-
est and meanest animal of its size."

Habits — Despiteful, greedy, almost uncanny in its dia-
bolical hindrance of the trapper, the wolverine is unques-
tionably one of the most annoying and fierce animals of
the woods. In fact John Burton informs me that there
is no animal, not even the grizzly, that he would not as soon
meet face to face as a female w^olverine with her young.

The individual range and endurance of a wolverine are
apparent from the fact that one has been known to carry
a heavy trap for six miles. Trappers say that it will sneak
after them for sixty miles to steal bait. Each one roams
over a territory fifty miles square in winter ; but in summer
this is much restricted.

Near the end of March the species pair, the male after-
wards probably assisting with the young. A large nest of
dried leaves is usually made in a cavern already used as a
winter refuge. The place is quite clean, as wolverines neith-
er store food nor leave garbage in their dens. The young,
however, may be born in some sheltered hollow or in a hole
dug under a big rock by the mother.

Parturition, following a gestation of sixty days dura-
tion, occurs in June from two to five being born. The young
are suckled for eight weeks and fed at home until October,
after which the whole family hunt together.

A wolverine rarely climbs, seldom attacks a grown
deer and eats what appeals to other carnivora of the same
size. By constant gnawing, even after its mouth bleeds,
a wolverine will sever a log a foot in diameter and so clever-
ly make the cut that the log will fall so as to leave an open-

142

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 27.— Distribution of Rocky Mountain Marten (MUSTELA CAURINA
ORINGENES Rhoads) in Utah. Based on records by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

143

ing. All the meat it can find it carries away and smears
it with a fetid glandular secretion loathsome to other ani-
mals. So many tracks are made in the snow that its caches
are almost imperceptible; and in fact a fox is about the
only animal with the taste to ferret out the stinking meat.

Wolverines are almost uncanny in their actions at
times. A set gun was placed for one once; the wolverine
appeared, bit the string in two just behind the gun muzzle
and carried the bait away. Three times this was repeated
by the trapper; and each time the wolverine bit the string
just behind the previous knot, invariably getting the meat.
According to Lockhart, who reports this incident, the trap-
per thought the animal so weird that he left the neighbor-
hood to trap elsewhere.

It is said that a hunter may safely leave a carcass for
one night but never for two, as the wolverines will on its
second visit do away with it all. Why a wolverine should
carry off knives, axes, kettles and such things is difficult
to explain unless it be to mark them with his well known
brand of ownership, the foul secretion.

Wolverines have such poor eyesight that they have
been known to shade their eyes with their paws ; and snow-
blindness sometimes kills them.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN MARTEN

MUSTELA CAURINA ORIGENES (Rhoads)

Mustela caurina origenes Rhoads, Proc. Acad, Nat. Scien.
Phil., 1902, p. 458.

Description — Upper parts and sides wood brown; long
hairs on dorsal region and rump broccoli brown ; gular patch
extensive; buffy orange; rest of under parts lighter than
back; tail long; dark; ears edged with ochraceous buff.
(Elliot.) Length 28.25; tail, vert., 8.25; hind foot, 3.0.
(Rhoads.) They do not turn white in winter; that is, their
winter coat is not very different in color from that of
summer. (Seton.)

Distribution — Gerald Thorne of Logan has mounted sev-
eral marten skins taken from the Uinta mountains. This
animal is rare in this state, being confined to the moun-
tains of the eastern section.

Mr. F. A. Wrathall dressed eight skins that were taken
near Brighton, Salt Lake County, in the winter of 1917-18,
and they are reported as fairly plentiful in that vicinity.

144

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Mr. McNeill of Bountiful, a well known trapper, says that
he can always depend on getting martens on the streams
about Kamas, Utah, and he used to trap them on the head-
waters of the Provo, Weber and Duchesne rivers. S. B.
Locke informs me that martens, though rare, are occas-
ionally seen in the mountains of the La Sal national forest.

Habits — Like other members of the weasel tribe, the
marten is a fierce, merciless creature of rapine, but unlike
the mink and weasel, it avoids the abodes of man and loves
the remotest depts of the wilderness. In the forest they
climb trees with the agility of a squirrel and on the ground
they hunt about under brush, moving with great rapidity.
Practically every living thing within their power falls vic-
tim to their rapacity. They eat minks, weasels, squirrels,
chipmunks, wood rats, mice of many kinds, conies, snow-
shoe rabbits, grouse, small birds and their eggs, frogs, fish,
beetles, nuts, and a variety of wild fruits. Unlike minks
and weasels, however, they do not usually kill more than
they can eat. They make nests of grass, moss and leaves
in hollow trees, under logs, among rocks or in holes in the
ground. The young, from one to eight, naked and help-
less, are born in April or May. (Nelson.)

Marten skins bring the trapper from $1.00 to $65.00
each according to color, size and condition, the dark being
the most valuable, the brown next and the pale least valu-
able.

MOUNTAIN WEASEL

PUTORIUS ARIZONENSIS (Mearns)

Putorius arizonensis Mearns, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ill,
No. 2, pp. 234-235, 1891.

Description — Summer pelage: Upper parts clear dark
brown, decidedly darker on head; tail the same, somewhat
lighter beneath, and with black tip; upper lip and chin
white ; rest of under parts buff with a decided orange tint ;
upper surface of front feet and hind toes, and inner side
hind legs yellow ; soles of hind feet pale brown. According
to Merriam, the color of the under parts varies quite con-
siderably in depth and shade. The winter pelage is white
with black tip to tail. In spring and autumn specimens are
found showing the various stages of transition between the
two pelages and are often very interesting. Measurements

MAMMALS OF UTAH

145

of male: Total length, 15.75; tail vert. 5.9; hind foot, 1.65.
Female: Total length,, 14.0; tail vert. 5.1; hind foot, 1.6.
(Warren.)

Distribution — Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains
into British Columbia, not north of Siskiyou Mountains in
the Cascade range. In Utah it may be found practically
throughout the state, usually in the mountains and foot-
hills. Clinton Milne of St. George says that in that vicinity
these weasels are found in creek beds and thick under-brush.
They are decreasing there. They are common in the La Sal
National forest district, according to S. B. Locke.

Habits — In addition to ground squirrels, this species
preys upon the snowshoe rabbit, especially in winter.
(Seton.) The species has a wide vertical range from 5,000
feet to timberline. It frequents the piles of large boulders
and debris in canyon bottoms and along mountain streams,
where it preys chiefly upon mice, chipmunks and spermo-
philes. When surprised in the open, it immediately seeks
refuge among the nearest rocks, but once in this safe re-
treat its curiosity overcomes, its fear, and it is seldom out
of sight for more than a moment. Its frisks in and out
among the rocks, stopping now and then to crane its long
neck at the observer, and even stands erect on its hind
legs to get a better view of the object of its curiosity.
(Cary.)

Revelling always in scenes of the most heinous butch-
ery, sinking his long, white teeth deep into the throat of
every victim his dauntless courage will permit him to tackle,
and passing like a flash in search of more blood, more devil-
ish killing, the mountainous weasel is truly the most mur-
derous animal for its size that roams the western wilds.
An eagle, a mink, a coyote, or wolf will usually cease its
killing when hunger has been appeased or at least gorman-
dize for days on the victims of a one-night slaughter; but
not so with the weasel; like the thugs of India, who mur-
dered every one they could as a religious practice, he glories
in his fiendish work of destruction. He is probably the
wickedest and most unlovable fur-bearer in America.

Weasels growl, snarl, hiss, puif and make reiterated
sharp barks at times. They chatter when angry, coo or
chuckle to their young and bark at puzzling objects.

The mating season is about the third week in March;
and though there is some evidence of pairing, the male
cares not a whiff for the young. He will fight like a demon,
however, if the female is disturbed when in his neighbor-
hood.

146

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 28.— (Dotted area) Range of Mink (PUTORIUS VISON Schreber)
in Utah. (Lined area) Range of Mink (PUTORIUS VISON LUTREO-
CEPHALUS Harlan). Based on E. T. Seton's map and records by Claude
T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

147

After a period of forty days gestation, from four to
eight young are born, which the mother hides and guards
with a courage that would tackle an elephant. The little
ones are blind for nine days and not uhtil they are six or
eight weeks old does the mother take the troop of young
pirates forth to their lessons of carnage. The dying squeak,
the final spasmodic quiver, the hot gushing blood — these are
the delights of the weasel.

Ground squirrels are its principal food though it actu-
ally chases down the cottontail, which, trembling with fear,
rushes into its burrow and awaits the inevitable assassin.
Everything from a mouse to a turkey is included in the
weasel's fare. Fifty chickens have been known to lie, the
silent evidence of one night's work. Climbing better than
chipmunks, the weasel chases them to their doom and for-
ever prays on squirrels as well.

Weasels have a strongly developed storage habit. They
have been known to drag from fifty to seventy-five rats
into a compact heap, or cover a rabbit with snow — and then
leave them to spoil!

Weasels are weasels' foes ; for once the breeding is
over, all of the adults fight, the males even fighting the
females to death, the slightest difference in weight de-
termining the victor.

Brown weasel skins are worth from 5 cents to 15 cents
each, the white pelts being from 20 cents to $3.00 each.

MINK

PUTORIUS VISON LUTREOCEPHALUS (Harlan)

Mustela lutreola Forst. Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, p. 371. (nec
Linn.)

Mustela canadensis Erxl. Syst. Reg. Anim. I, 1777, p. 455.

(nec M. 1 canadensis of Schreber.)
Mustela vison Schreber, Saugth, III, 1777, p. 463.
Mustela winingus Barton, Am. Philos. Trans. VI, 1809, p. 70.
Mustela minx Ord. Guthrie's Geogr. 2d Am. ed. II, 1815, p. 291.
Mustela lutreocephala Harlan, Faun. Amer. p. 63, 1825.
Putorius nigrescens Aud. & Bach. Quad. N. Am. Ill, 1853,

p. 104, pi. CXXIV.
Putorius vison Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M. Pub. II,

1901, p. 338, fig. 67. Zool. Ser.
Putorius vison lutreocephalus Elliott, Syn. N. Am. Mamm.

F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 339. Zool. Ser.

Description — An ordinary male weighs about 2 pounds,
but I have seen adults that were only II/2 to 1% pounds.
The largest I ever weighed was taken at Winnipeg, Novem-

148

MAMMALS OF UTAH

ber 1, 1907; it turned the scale to 2 pounds 6 ounces. The
females are considerably smaller than the males, weighing,
according to Resseque, about 1 pound 10 ounces. In gen-
eral the mink is nearly uniform umber-brown, darker and
glossier on the back, and deepening on the tail nearly to
black; the chin is more or less white, and there may be
some white spots anywhere on throat, breast or belly, but
these are very irregular; some specimens are totally with-
out white. In the American species the white does not
reach the upper lip. In the Siberian species the upper lip
is normally white. This animal does not turn white in
winter. The impression it gives as it dodges in the woods
along the water is of a long, thin rat, with brown fur and
hairy tail. (Seton.)

Distribution — The mink ranges over most of Canada
and all of the United States except the southwestern por-
tion. In Utah it is confined to the mountainous regions of
the eastern half of the state. Typical vison have been found
in the northern Wasatch mountains but most of the minks
of this state may be referred to Lutreocephalus, larger
than the type with shorter and paler fur. Minks are very
rare in Utah. E. C. Shepard of Logan reports a few in
Cache national forest, and S. B. Locke says that they occur
along the streams of southeastern Utah.

Gerald Thorne informs me that he has both shot and
trapped mink in the Uinta basin and that a few stragglers
may still be found in the north and south sides of the
Uinta mountains. He has seen two along the Logan river,
where Ted Seeholzer caught six in 1916. Mr. F. A. Wrath-
all reports that he frequently sees mink in Big and Little
Cottonwood canyons. He has received many from local
trappers from time to time.

Habits — The food of the mink includes everything in
the way of flesh, fish, or fowl it can conquer, and so furious
is the little animal that it overcomes many living things,
larger and stronger than itself.

Picture an umber brown, elongated little animal, so
small that he could curl closely in your overcoat pocket,
but withal a creature so ferocious, so bloodthirsty and so
tenaceous that the famous bull terrier takes second place
to him as a fighter, and you have some impression of the
most truculent of all weasels, the mink, minx, or vison, as
he is variously called. Yet if the paradoxical bit of ferocity
be taken from its mother before his eyes are open, petted

MAMMALS OF UTAH

149

and treated kindly, he becomes as amiable as a housecat,
doing little damage except by ferreting out food not in-
tended for him.

All minks delight in the borderland between water
and woods — between the otter and the weasel as it were.
They can live in water and catch fish as does the otter or
follow prey into the rushes and woods, over logs, into bur-
rows and up rough or sloping trees, as does the weasel.

Each mink covers a large territory, probably five
miles across, in a single season, hunting in one place until
game becomes scarce, then roaming a mile or so away, up
one stream and down another. Thus the male may have
several nests or resting places in the hunting range.

Excepting during the mating season and when rearing
the young, minks are solitary animals, a series of scented
mud pies along commonly visited streams being their only
designed means of communications.

The mink is not a noisy animal, yet it may growl, utter
a deep, savage snarl, give a snarl or almost scream of de-
fiance or a shrill screech when trapped.

Minks appear to be both polygamous and polyandrous.
During the mating season — February and March — the
males wander restlessly over the snow while the females
apparently remain in their burrows. Caged minks have
to be separated for the male mink is so determined to brood
or feed the young that he is liable to smother them.

Any low situation within sound of the streams's mur-
mur may be chosen for the mink's den, which consists usu-
ally of either a long burrow in a bank, or a hole under a
log, stump or root. From three to ten young are born
towards the last of April, the period of gestation being
forty-two . days. The tiny, blind, naked things are about
the size of one's little finger, pale and helpless. Their
eyes open at the end of five weeks, after which the mother
begins to give them solid food, such as minnows.

Trout a foot long are sometimes captured by minks;
and other food consists of frogs, toads, tadpoles, gray rab-
bits, snakes, clams, crawfish and carrion. It follows musk-
rats persistently and will ravage a whole chicken coop in
a single night.

Mink pelts are worth from 25 cents to $14.00 each, the
darker skins being the most valuable.

150

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Subfamily LUTRINAE

MEXICAN OTTER

LUTRA CANADENSIS SONORA (Rhoads)

Lutra hudsonica sonora Rhoads, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc, N. S.

XIX, 1898, p. 431.
Lutra canadensis sonora Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.

Pub., II, 1901, p. 353. Zool. Ser.

Description — The genus lutra comprises weasels of
large size, with short legs, long tails ; adapted for life in the
water, having dense oily fur, webbed feet. The muskrat is
protected against the cold water by a fine robe of dense
fur; the whale by a thick layer of fat under the skin; the
otter is happy in the possession of both, and can enjoy the
coldest water in the coldest of weather. The length of the
typical canadensis is about forty inches, though sonora is a
larger and more yellowish form. (Seton.) The typical
canadensis is described as follows: In general the color
is dark rich glossy brown, becoming paler and grayer be-
low; the brown of the head and muzzle changes on lips,
cheeks, chin and throat rather abruptly, into a pale brown-
ish gray, almost a grayish white. (Seton.)

Distribution — If one may judge the number of streams
in Utah named after the otter such as those in the Fish
Lake district, the original distribution of this animal in-
cluded the entire eastern half of the state. This is verified
from Seton's map ; and his maps generally have been found
by the author to be surprisingly accurate so far as the
distribution of mammals in this state are concerned despite
the fact that his work takes Manitoba as a basis. This
animal is, however, quite rare ; and specimens are not avail-
able to prove just which form inhabits the Wasatch and
Uintah districts. It may be found later that the typical
canadensis is represented in the Cache national forest.
Gerald Thorne of Logan informs me that otters are occas-
ionally taken along Green river, especially in the Split
Mountain canyon and canyons above. He mounted two
skins trapped by Nathaniel Galloway about six miles above
Jensen, Utah, near the mouth of Split Mountain canyon.
At Indian dances in the Uintah district he has often seen
otter skins worn and their owners said that they caught
them at the headwaters of the Uintah and Duchesne rivers.

Habits — The otter spends its life near clear, cold, trout-
favored streams, searching, even in winter, for those rapids
and falls where the ice does not cover the stream. The

MAMMALS OF UTAH 151

individual range covers a district of several miles extent.
It is not either a sociable or gregarious animal, the three
or four sometimes seen together in the autumn being usu-
ally a mother with her family.

An otter sometimes utters a loud sniffing sound, and
in times of danger it may snarl or growl, or even chirp to
express hunger.

The mating season occurs towards the end of February ;
the nest is built somewhat after the fashion of that of the
muskrat in that the entrance is under water. The young,
born in mid-April, from one to three in number, are blind
for some weeks.

One of the most peculiar habits of this animal is its
construction of slides in the mud or snow, down which they
slip for the sheer fun of it.

Among the items that enter into -an otter's bill of fare
may be mentioned trout, frogs, crayfish and wild fowl.

152 MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 29.— Range of the Masked Shrew (SOREX PERSONATUS I. G. St.
Hilaire) in Utah.

Order INSECTIVORA The
Insectivores

Family SORICIDAE, Shrews
Subfamily SORICINAE

DOBSON'S SHREW

SOREX DOBSONI (Merriam)

Sorex dobsoni Merriam, N. A. Faun. No. 5, p. 33, 1891.
Sorex vagrans dobsoni Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., F. C. M.
Pub., 1901, p. 370.

Description — Similar to S. personatus in size and color-
ation, but differing in having a somewhat longer tail and
in cranial and dental characters. Upper parts uniform dull
sepia brown, not darker on the rump. Under parts drab
slightly tinged with brown. Tail indistinctly bicolor, con-
color with the upper and under surfaces of the nody. The
skull is larger and heavier than that of S. personatus.
(Merriam.)

Distribution — Rocky mountains in northern Idaho, and
western Montana, also in Big Snowy and Prior mountains,
Montana, Big Horn mountains in Wyoming, and Wasatch
mountains, Utah.

MASKED SHREW

SOREX PERSONATUS (1. Geoff. St. Hilaire)

Sorex personatus 1. Goeff. St. Hil., Mem. du Mus. Hist. Nat.

Paris, XV, 1827, p. 122.
Sorex forsteri Rich., Zool. Jour., Ill, 1828, p. 516.
Sorex cooperi Bachm., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1837,

p. 388.

Sorex fimbripes Bachm., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1837.
Amphisorex lesueuri Duvern., Mag. Zool., Mamm., 1842, p. 33.
Sorex platyrhynchus Linsley, Sillim. Am. Journ. Scien. XLIII,
1842, p. 346.

Otisorex platyrhinufe DeKay, Zool. N. Y., I, 1842, p. -22.
Sorex haydeni Baird, N. Am. Mamm, 1857, p. 29.
Sorex richardsoni Dobson, Mon. Insectiv., I, 1890, Pt. III.
Sorex idahoensis Merr., N. Am. Faun., No. 5, 1891, p. 32.

Description — The summer coat, above, sepia brown
mixed with dark-tipped hairs; shaded into ashy white or
fawn below; tail, dark brownish above and all around at

154

MAMMALS OF UTAH

tip, whitish below, rather sharply defined, i. e., tail bi-
colored. Winter coat, more grayish above and lighter, some-
times pure white below. A chestnut phase is sometimes
found. The sexes are alike. The average total length is
about 3 15/16 inches; weight about 47 grains. (Seton.)
This very diminutive shrew has a head slender and acutely
elongated ; the body very slender. The muzzle is naked and
quite deeply divided. The eye is rather prominent, its cen-
ter nearer the anterior base of the concha than the muzzle,
showing this to be less elongated than in some species of
the group. The ear is rather large and open, the concha
directed backward. The tail is about as long as the body
(without head) or a little longer. It is very thin at the
base, about the diameter of the tibia; it, however, swells
rapidly towards the middle, and then tapers gently to the
tip. It is round and densely clothed with long hairs con-
cealing the annuli, and ending in a pencil. The feet are
small, especially the hinder ones, which are only about four
tenths of an inch long. These are naked below, except at
the heel, where they are covered with hairs, except a narrow
space along the median line, which is, however, concealed by
the overhanging bristles. The rest of the sole is covered
with small tubercles, with six longer ones interspaced. The
feet are rather broad, and covered with longish lustrous
hairs. (Baird.)

Distribution — This shrew is confined to the Wasatch
and Uinta mountain districts in this state. It is not com-
mon.

Habits — These tiny animals live among the vegetation
and debris on the surface of the ground or in little burrows
below. With the moles they are members of the Order
Insectivora and depend mainly on insects and meat for food,
consists of small balls of dry leaves, grasses or other soft
This species is the smallest of our mammals. Its nest
vegetation placed under a log or in a stump; and two or
more litters of from six to ten young each are raised during
the summer and fall. They run along the tunnels of mice
and search for insects, larvae, worms, and seeds. When
two are placed together in captivity they fight to the death,
the victor devouring the vanquished. The Eskimos have
a deadly fear of shrews, which they believe to be able to
dart at them and pierce into their hearts. (Nelson.)

MAMMALS OF UTAH

155

DUSKY SHREW

SOREX OBSCURUS (Merriam)

Sorex vagrans similis Merriam, N. A. F. No. 5, pp. 34-35,
PL IV, fig. 3, August, 1891.

Description — Size, rather small; tail about equal to
body without head; ears inconspicuous; third unicuspid
much smaller than fourth. Similar to Sorex dobsoni, but
with smaller ears, broader palate, and broader unicuspidate
teeth. Compared with S. vagrans, it is slightly larger,
with longer tail and larger molarif orm teeth. Color : Upper
parts uniform dull sepia brown, under parts ashy; tail bi-
color; upper side concolor with back or slightly darker,
under side whitish. In winter pelage the upper parts are
ashy gray and the under parts nearly white. (Merriam.)

Distribution — British Columbia, and mountains of
western Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colo-
rado, south in California to Mount Whitney. Utah speci-
mens have been taken at Provo, Manti, and in the Wasatch
mountains.

Habits — The family, Soricidae or Shrews, comprises
small mouselike creatures, but most of them are smaller
than any mouse, and in anatomy as different from the mice
as a small badger is from the big gray rabbit. This we
should realize if we could set together a mouse and a shrew,
each magnified to the size of a sheep. Their most striking
peculiarity is the absence, or apparent absence, of eyes and
ears; next, their long sharp nose, and last, but of most
importance, their teeth. (Seton.) The food of this species
consists mostly of worms and insects.

All American shrews have two pelages, which may be
roughly designated as summer and winter coats, though
by no means corresponding strictly with these seasonal
limitations. As usual among small mammals, the molt
takes place at different date among individuals of the same
species, so that it is not rare to capture specimens in differ-
ent pelages on the same day. The winter pelage is usually
plumbeous, dusky, or ash gray ; the summer pelage sepia
brown or chestnut. (Merriam.)

156

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 30.— Range of the Navigator Shrew (NEOSOREX PALUSTRIS
NAVIGATOR Baird) in Utah. Based on map of E. T. Seton and records
by Claude T. Barnes.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

157

NAVIGATOR SHREW

NEOSOREX PALUSTRIS NAVIGATOR (Baird)

Neosorex navigator Baird, N. Am. Mamm., p. 11, 1857.

Neosorex palustris navigator Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm,
F. C. M. Pub. II, 1901, p. 379. Zool. Ser.

Sorex palustris Merr., N. A. F. No. 5, 1891, p. 35 (nec Rich-
ardson).

Description — Body rather thick and full; feet very-
large, broad, and long, entirely naked beneath, covered above
with short stiff hairs; the soles and palms margined with
a fringe of stiff parallel ciliated bristles, longest on the
soles; the fingers and toes all with a separate ciliation of
shorter hairs; the soles are occupied by a pavement of
crowded, minute scale-like tubercles, extending from the
heel to the bases of the toes; hind feet about twice the
length of the fore-feet : the ears are small, and in the dried
skin very inconspicuous; the whiskers are numerous, the
longest reaching back to the arms; the tail is longer than
the body, tetragonal in the dried animal, a pointed pencil of
hairs at the tip ; the hairs elsewhere rather short, but close
pressed and of uniform length everywhere. The fur is
long, and very full and soft; its color above and on the
sides is a mixed hoary and smoky brown; the hairs being
lead color for most of their length from the base, grayish
towards tip, then smoky brown, sometimes dark iDrown at
the end. Intermixed are longer hairs, black with grayish
tips. The under parts are of a dull grayish-white ,with a
tinge of brownish yellow, in strong contrast with the color
of the back and sides. The feet, with the fingers, are of a
mixed brown and gray, except on the inner edge, where
they are colored like the belly. The tail is like the back,
except on the under surface, where it is of a sharply defined
whitish, like the belly. Length of head and body, 2 1/12
inches; tail, 3. (Baird.)

Distribution — Rocky Mountains from British Columbia
to southern Colorado, Sierra Nevada of California, to Se-
quoia National Park. Specimens have been taken at Park
City, Utah, and at other points in the Wasatch Mountains.
Though S. B. Locke reports that shrews occur in the La Sal
Mountains, I have never seen specimens.

Habits — This species is aquatic, living on the borders
of streams and marshes. It is frequently found in the moss
at the edge of moutnain streams or in the dense vegetation
of cold bogs and mountain meadows. It probably feeds on
meadow mice, as well as insects and worms.

Order CHIROPTERA: Bats

Family VESPERTILIONIDAE, Common Bats
Subfamily VESPERTILIONINAE

FORT YUMA BAT

MYOTIS YUMANENSIS (H. Allen)

Vespertilio yumanensis H. Allen, Monogr. N. Am. Bats, p. uo,
1864.

Vespertilio macropus H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,

p. 288 (nec Gould, 1854) 1866.
Vespertilio nitidus (pedomorphic variety) H. Allen, Monogr.

Bats N. Am., pp. 72-73, 1893.
Vespertilio albescens H. Allen, Monogr. Bats. N. Am. p. 87,

(part, nec Geoff., 1805) 1893.
Vespertilio nitidus macropus H. Allen, Monogr. Bats. N. Am.,

p. 100, 1893.

Description — Size small length 74-88mm. ; forearm 32-37
mm. ; calcar distinct, considerably longer than free border of
interfemoral membrane, terminating at a well-marked lobule;
free border of uropatagium naked; ears moderate; wings
from base to toes, but on account of extent of web between
toes apparently from side of metatarus ; feet very large and
ong as compared with other small American species.
Ears: The ears are moderately long; laid forward they
reach straight for a short distance at base, then strongly
convex, and finally straight or even slightly concave just
below tip. The tip is narrow and abruptly rounded off.
The posterior border is concave from the tip to the widest
part of the auricle, just below mid height, then strongly
convex to basal notch, which isolates a well-marked lobe.
The fur shows no peculiarities in distribution. On the mid-
dle of the back it averages about 6 mm. in length. Color
pale wood brown, varying to broccoli brown; belly dirty
whitish; the fur everywhere light plumbeous at base; ears
and membrane light brown; the uropatagium and wing
membranes edged with whitish. (Miller.)

Distribution — Austral zones and lower edge of Transi-
tion zone from the southwestern United States to San Luis
Potosi and Michoacan, Mexico. In Utah specimens have
been taken at Provo.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

159

SILVER-HAIRED BAT

LASIONYCTERIS NOCTIVAGANS (LeConte)

Vespertilio noctivagans Le Conte, McMurtrie's Cuvier's An.

Kingdom, 1, p. 31, 1831.
Vespertilio auduboni Harlan, Mont. Am. Journ. Geol. and Nat.

Hist., 1, p. 220, 1831.

Vespertilio oulverulentus Temminck, Monogr. de Mammalogie,
11, p. 325, 1835.

Scotophilus noctivagans H. Allen, Monogr. N. Am. Bats, p. 39,
1864.

Lasionycteris noctivagans Peters, Monatsber. K. Preuss. Akad.

Miss., Berlin, p. 648, 1865.
Vesperugo noctivagans Dobson, Catal. Chiroptera Brit. Mus.,

p. 238, 1878.

Lasionycteris noctivagans H. Allen, Monogr. Bats, N. Am.,
p. 105, 1893.

Description — The fur is deep, blackish, chocolate brown
throughout, many of the hairs on the back, belly and furred
part of interfemoral membrane tipped with silvery white.
The white tips are most numerous on middle of back.
They are absent, or nearly so, from face, crown and throat.
(Miller.)

Distribution — North America from Atlantic to the Pa-
cific, and including the northern half of the United States.
It breeds in Utah probably only in the northeastern section
though its winter range includes the northern half of the
State.

Habits — Like many other bats it has a decided liking
for waterways, coursing up and down streams and rivers,
and circling around lakes and ponds. (Merriam.) The
breeding season extends throughout August and September
and the male takes no interest whatsoever in the rearing of
the young. The period of gestation is apparently ten
months. (Seton.) This bat prefers hollow trees where the
mother takes advantage of whatever she may find there as
a nest. The young commence to fly when about three
weeks old.

Bats gather their food during the twilight of morning
before sunrise and evening before dark. This species is
especially fond of mosquitoes; in fact, no one should kill
bats of any kind in this state.

160

MAMMALS OF UTAH

Map No. 31.— Range of the Silver-haired Bat (LASIONYCTERIS NOCTIVA-
GANS Le Conte) in Utah. Based on E. T. Seton's map.

MAMMALS OF UTAH 161

WESTERN BAT

PIPISTRELLUS HESPERUS (H. Allen)

Scotophilus hesperus H. Allen. Mon. N. A. Bats, 1864, p. 43.
Vesperugo merriami Dobson, Cat. Chirop., Brit. Mus. 1878,
p. 228.

Pipistrellus hesperus Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. F. C. M.
Pub., II, 1901, p. 409.

Description — Size very small ; thumb short, ears shorter
and more bluntly rounded than in other American members
of the genus reaching barely to nostril when laid forward.
The fur extends on basal third of ears but barely reaches
extreme base of interfemoral membrane, and on wing mem-
brances invades merely a very narrow strip close to the
body. Color light yellowish gray or whitish gray, the fur
everywhere deep plumbeous at the base. In some specimens
the hairs on the back have faint dark subterminal areas
which, however, are visible on close inspection only. Ears,
muzzle face and membrane black. A narrow whitish border
on wing membrane between foot and fifth finger. Foot
small, distinctly less than half as long as tibia, naked or with
a few almost invisible whitish hairs on dorsal surface.
(Miller.)

Distribution — The western bat is found in the lower
Austral zone in the western United States from western
Texas to the Pacific coast. Specimens have been taken at
St. George, Utah.

BROWN BAT

VESPERTILIO FUSCUS (Beauvois)

Vespertilio ursinus Temminck, Monogr. de Mammalogie, II,
p. 235.

Vespertilio fuscus Beauv., Cat. Peale's Mus. Phil, 1796, p. 14.
Vespertilio carolinensis Geoff., Ann. Mus, Nat. llist. Paris,

VIII, 1806, p. 193.
Vespertilio phaiops Rafin., Am. Month. Mag., Ill, 1818, p. 445.
Eptesicus melanops Rafin., Ann. Nat., 1820, p. 2.
Vespertilio arquatus Say, Long's Exped. Rocky Mts., 1, 1823,

p. 167 note.

Scotophilus greenii Gray List. Spec. Mamm. Brit. Mus., 1,
1843, p. 30.

Eptesicus fuscus Beauv. Cat. Peale's Mus. Phil., p. 14.
Vesperugo serotinus var Vesperus fuscus Dobson. Cat. Chir.
Brit. Mus., p. 193.

Description — In color it is wood brown throughout,
paled below ; fur never silver tipped. Length 4i% to 5 inches ;
tail IV2 to 2tV inches; forearm 1% to 1% inches. Weight of
an adult, one-half ounce. (Seton.)

162 MAMMALS OF UTAH

Distribution— Practically the entire United States.
Utah specimens have been taken at Ogden and at St. George,
as well as in Cache county and at Laketown. Its range
includes the entire state.

Habits — This bat prefers open ways between trees such
as streets. It is a frequenter of towns and cities, and it is
the last of the bats to appear each evening. Its breeding
habits are unknown despite the fact that its range includes
most of North America. It has an enormous appetite for
bugs and insects and drinks water copiously.

LITTLE CALIFORNIA BAT

MYOTIS GALIFORNICUS (Aud. & Bach.)

Vespertilio californicus Aud. & Bach. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci.

Phila. p; 280 (California) 1842.
Vespertilio nitidus H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. p. 247

(Monterey, California) 1862.
Vespertilio nitidus H. Allen, Monogr. N. Am. Bats, p. 60, 1864.
Vespertilio oregonensis H. Allen, Monogr. N. Am. Bats, p. 61,

(Cape St; Lucas and Fort Tejon), 1864.
Vespertilio obscurus H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,

p. 281 (Lower California) 1866.
Vespertilio volans H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 282

(Cape St. Lucas) 1866.
Vespertilio exilis H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 283

(Cape St. Lucas) 1866.
Vespertilio tenuidorsalis H. Allen, Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,

p. 283 (Cape St. Lucas) 1866;
Vespertilio yumanensis H. Allen, Proc; Acad Nat. Sci. Phila.,

p. 283) nec H. Allen, 1864) 1866.
Vespertilio nitidus Dobson, Catal, Chiroptera Bf it. Mus., p. 318,

1878.

Vespertilio melanorhinus Merriani, N. Am. F. No. 3, p. 46,

Sept. 11, 1890 (San Francisco Mt., Arizona) 1890.
Vespertilio albescens melanorhinus H. Allen, Monogr. Bats,

N. Am., p. 91, 1893.
Vespertilio nitidus H. Allen, Monogr. Bats, N. Am., p. 84, 1893.
Vespertilio nitidus henshawi H. Allen, Monogr. Bats N. Am.,

p. 103 (Wingate, N. Mexico) 1893.
Vespertilio nigricans H. Allen, Monogr. Mats N. Am., p. 97

footnote (nec Maximilian 1826) 1893.

Description — Smallest species of MyOtis known to occur
in the United States. Length, 76 to 87 ; forearm, 30 to 36.
Calcar about as long as free border of Uropatagium, very
slender but distinct and with a more or less well developed
lobule at tip, outer edge with a distinct keel. Legs slender,
the small feet reaching when extended backward to within

MAMMALS OF UTAH . 163

about 5 mm. of tip of tail. Free border of uropatagium
naked. Ears moderate, reaching just beyond tip of nose.
Wings from base of toes. Fur on back distinctly darker at
base than at tip. The fur is soft, full and long, that on
middle of back averaging about 8 mm. in length. Color light
yellowish gray paler on the belly, the fur everywhere dark
plumbeous at base. Membranes, ears, lips, and muzzle
blackish. (Miller.)

Distribution — Austral zones and lower part of Transi-
tion zones throughout the western United States and Lower
California, east to Wyoming and Texas.

TRUE'S BAT: LITTLE BROWN BAT

MYOTIS LUCIFUGUS LONGICRUS (True)

Vespertilio longicrus True, Science, VIII, p. 588, 1886.
Vespertilio nitidus longicrus H. Allen, Monogr. BatS N. Am.,
p. 103.

Vespertilio Albescens (melanic phase) H. Allen, Monogr. Bats
N. Am., p. 92.

Description — The fur shows no peculiarities in distri-
bution. In color it is darker and duller than in the typical
subspecies but the difference is apparently never very strik-
ing. (Miller.) Above dark; underparts paler, with grayish
cast ; base of hair above and below blackish ; ears and mem-
branes look blackish, though brown by transmitted light.
(Warren.)

Distribution — Boreal and Transition zones from Puget
Sound east to Wyoming south at least to Arizona and south-
ern California.

Habits — This is a cave bat though hollow trees and
farm houses are sometimes occupied by it. It flies quite
like a chimney swift. Its voice is so delicate that some
people with good hearing cannot hear it. The mating season
of this species is August and early September; and the
period of gestation is about ten months. Usually two young
are raised ; and it is said the mother carries them with her
until they are about two weeks old.

The food of this species consists of insects, which it
catches on the wing. Bats go twice or three times a day for
water, being drinkers. An annual migration takes place
though at times the species hibernate for a period of inclem-
ent weather.

Map No. 32.— Breeding range of Hoary Bat (LASIURUS CINEREUS Beau-
vois) in Utah. Based on map of E. T. Seton.

MAMMALS OF UTAH

165

LONG-EARED BAT

MYOTIS EVOTIS (H. Allen)

Vespertilio evotis H. Allen, Monogr. Bats N. Am. p. 48, 1864.
Vespertilio evotis Dobson, Catal. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 324,
1878.

Vespertilio albescens evotis H. Allen, Monogr. N. Am. Bats,
p. 89, 1893.

Vespertilio chrysonotus J. A .Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
VIII, p. 240, November 21, 1896.

Description — Size large ; Calcar longer than free border
of uropatagium, slender, distinct, and with a more or less
well developed lobule at the lip. Free border of uropatagium
naked or very indistinctly ciliate. Ears very long, reaching
7 to 10 mm. beyond tip of nose. Wing from base of toes.
The fur is full, soft, and not peculiar in distribution. It is
light yellowish brown, paler ventrally, the hairs everywhere
dusky slate at base. (Miller.)

Distribution — Austral and Transition zones from the
Pacific Coast to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains ;
south to Vera Cruz.

THE HOARY-BAT OR GREAT
NORTHERN BAT

LASIURUS CINEREUS (Beauvois)

Vespertilio cinereus Beauvois, 1796, Cat. Peale's Mus., Phila.,
p. 15.

Lasiurus cinereus H. Allen, 1864, Monog. Bats N. A., p. 21.

Description — Total length 5 to 51/2 inches ; spread 15 to
-17 inches. The fur next the body is dully blackish, but
this does not ordinarily show ; the general under color visible
is a soft sienna or orange buff, much grayer on breast and
belly; but on the chest and upper parts each hair has a
dark brown zone, and, finally, a silver white tip ; the general
effect is rich, deep brown, exquisitely frosted over with
white ; the chin is pale brown or yellow ; the ears have black
rims, and the muzzle is more or less black. When in air
this species may be distinguished from all by its long,
pointed wings, great size and swift zigzag flight. (Seton.)

Distribution — This species ranges over practically all
of the continent of North America, its breeding range being

166

MAMMALS OF UTAH

mostly in Canada and its winter range in the United States.
It breeds in Utah in the northeastern section and migrates
to the south in winter, covering perhaps all of the state.

Habits — This bat prefers -woods and waters, as it
habitually seeks mosquitoes and other insects in the thick
woods. Its mating season begins the first of August; and
usually four young are raised.

INDEX

A

Alces americanus 9

Ammospermophilus leucurus cinnamomens 47

Antelope 24

Antelope chipmunk 43

Antelope Map 23

Antelope squirrel 47

Antilocapra americana 23

Apache pocket mouse 69

Arizona wood rat 74

Armed spermophile 49

Aztec harvest mouse 69

B

Badger '. 135

Bailey's lynx Ill

Bassariscus astutus 131

Bats 8, 158

Bat, Brown 161

Fort Yuma 1 158

Great Northern 164

" Hoary 164

" Little brown ^ 163

" Little California 162

" Long eared 165

" Silver haired 159-160

" True's 163

" Western : 161

Bay Lynx Ill

Bear, Baird grizzly 8, 127

" Black 8, 130

" Utah grizzly 8, 126

Beaver, Sonoran 6, 61

Big footed vole 78

Bighorn 26

Bison bison - 31

Black-browed mole mouse 64

Black-eyed grasshopper mouse 64

Black Hills Cottontail 97

Black Hills Cottontail (Map) 98

Bobcat Ill

Bovidae - 26

Bubonic plague caused by rats - 63

Buffalo - 30

Buffalo (Map) 30

C

Callospermophilus lateralis - ■ -- - - 46

Canada Lynx

Canidae • - -

Q — (Continued)

Canis estor 117

Canis lestes 117

Canis occidentalis 114

Cantankerous vole 77

Canyon mouse, Golden breasted 66

Carcajou 139

Camivora » 107

Castor canadensis frondator 60, 61

Castoridae 61

Catamount 107

Cervidae 10

Cervinae 10

Cervus canadensis 12

Cinnamon bushy- tailed wood rat 74

Cinnamon chief hare 92

Chickaree, Fremont's 35

Chickaree (Map) 34

Chickaree, Wind river mountains 33

Chickaree, Wind river mountains (Map) 34

Chief hare, cinnamon 92, 93

Chihuahua mule deer 20

Chipmunk, Beaver mountains 42

" Beaver valley 41

Busy 40

Dark 38

Gila 35

Hopi 36

Painted 40

Related 39

Utah 37

Wasatch 39

Chiroptera 158

Citellus armatus 49

Citellus castanurus 47

Citellus elegans 49

Citellus Harrisi 42

Citellus leucurus 43

Citellus mollis 48

Citellus townsendi 48

Citellus tridecemlineatus parvus 45

Citellus variegatus grammurus 50

Citellus variegatus Utah 50

Civet fox 131

Cliff mouse, Rowley 66

Colorado desert jack rabbit 105

Colorado desert jack rabbit (Map) , 96

Colorado pocket gopher 85

Cony 92

Cottontail, Black Hills 97

Cottontail, Colorado (Map) 96, 97

Cottontail, Wyoming (Map) 95, 96

Cougar 107

Coyote, Noland's ranch 11

Q — (Continued)

Coyote, Mountain 117

Coyote, Robber 117

Cricetinae 64

Crotalus oregonus 75

Cynomys gunnisoni zuniensis 55

Cyonmys leucurus 52

Cynomys parvidens 54

D

Deer, Chihuahua mule 20

Deer, mule 19

. "Deer tiger" ! 107

Deer, Western white-tailed 15

Deer, Map of distribution of Western white-tailed 16

Desert harvest mouse 67

Desert wood rat 70, 71

Dipodomyinae 86

Dobson's shrew 152-154

Dusky shrew 155

Dwarf vole 76

E

Economic status of various mammals 5-7

Elegant spermophile 49

Elk 12

Elk, Map of distribution 13

Engelhardt marmot 57

Erethizon epixanthum 90

Erethizontidad 90

Erethizontinae 90

Eutamias amoenus operarius 40

Eutamias dorsalis utahensis 37

Eutamias hopiensis 36

F

Felidae 107

Felis canadensis 110

Felis hippolestes 107

Felis uinta Ill

Fiber zibethicus mergens 79, 81

Fiber zibethicus osoyoosensis 78-80

Field mouse, Rowley 66

" Subarctic 65

" Tawny 65

Fox, Black -.- 120

" Cross : 121

" Kit : : 124

" Long-tailed ■.. 118

" Scott's gray 123

" Silver 120

" Western red 118

G

Geomyidae 81

Gila chipmunk 35

Glires, Economic value of 6

Glutton 139

Golden breasted canyon mouse 66

Golden breasted mouse 66

Golden-mantled marmot 58

Gopher, Colorado pocket 84, 85

" Green river pocket 83

Striped 45

Swift 83

" Uinta pocket 83

" Yellow pocket 85

Grasshopper mouse, Black-eyed 64

Grasshopper mouse. Long-tailed 64

Gray wolf 114

Great Basin pocket mouse 89

Great Basin skunk 136

Great northern bat 165

Grizzly, Baird 127

Grizzly, Utah 126

Groundhog 58

Ground Squirrel, Say 46

Gulo luscus , 139

H

Harvest mouse, Aztec 69

Harvest mouse. Desert 67

Heteromyidae 86

Hoary bat 164-166

Hoary marmot 57

House mouse 63

I

Insectivora - ^ 153

J

Jack rabbit, Colorado desert 105

Jack rabbit, Western White-tailed (Map) 100, 101

K

Kangaroo rat 86

Kennicott spermophile 48

L

Lasionycteris noctivagans 159

Lasiurus cinereus „. 165

Leporidae 95

Lepus bairdi 103-104

" califomicus deserticola 105

" campestris townsendi 101

Little brown bat 163

Little California bat 162

L — (Continued)

Long-eared bat 165

Long-footed kangaroo rat 87

Long-tailed grasshopper mouse 64

Long-tailed pocket mouse 90

Lutra canadensis conora 150

Lutrinae 150

Lynx baileyi Ill

Lynx, Bailey's Ill

Lynx, Canada 110

Lynx, Uinta mountains Ill

M

Mammalia 1

Marmota flaviventris engelhardti 56, 57

Marmota flaviventris nosophora 56, 58

Marmot, Engelhardt 56, 57

Marmot, Golden mantled 56, 58

Marten, Rocky mountain '. 142

Masked shrew 152-153

Mephitis occidentalis major 136

Mexican otter 150

Microtus montanus 7, 75

" montanus rivularis 75

" mordax 77

" nanus 76

" pauperrimus 78

" pennsylvanicus modestus 7b

" richardsoni macropus 78

Mink 146-147

Minks as rat destroyers 63

Moki kangaroo rat 87

Moose, Distributional Map 9

Mountain lion 7, 107

Mountain sheep , 26

Mountain sheep, map 28

Mountain weasel 144

Mountain wild cat Ill

Mouse, Aztec harvest 68, 69

" Black-eyed grasshopper 64

" Black-browed mole 64

Desert harvest 67, 68

" House 63

" Golden breasted 66

" Golden breasted canyon 66

" Great Basin pocket 89

" Long-tailed grasshopper 04

" Long-tailed pocket 90

" Nevada pocket 88

" Rowley cliff 66

" Subarctic field - 65

" Tawny field _65

" True's 67

]yi — (Continued)

Mouse, True's deer 67

" Yavapai pocket 87

Mule deer 19

Mule deer, Map of distribution of 18

Muriidae , (52

Mus musculus 63

Mus norwegicus 62

Mus rattus 62

Muskrat, Rocky Mountain 78-80

Nevada 81

Mustela caurina origenes 143

Mustelinae 139

Myotis californicus 162

" evotis 165

" lucifugus longicrus 163

" yumanensis 158

N

Navigator shrew 156-157

Neotoma cinerea 73

" " arizonae 74

" " orolestes 74

Neotoma desertorum 71

Neotominae 7, 71

Norway rat

Nevada muskrat 81

Nevada pocket mouse 156, 157

O

Ochotona bedfordi 93

Ochotona cinnamomea 92

" schisticeps fuscipes 94

uinta 93

Ochotonidae 92

Odocoileus hemionus canus 20

Odocoileus virginianus macrourus 15

Odontocoelus hemionus 19

Onychomys longicaudus 7, 64

Onychomys melanophrys 64

Otter, Mexican 150

Ovis cervina 26

P

"Painter"

Panamint pocket mouse

"Panther"

Parowan pika :

Peale vole

Perodipus longipes

" montanus utahensis

Peromyscus boyleii rowleyi

Peromyscus crinitus auripectus

107
88

107
94
75
87
86
66
66

P— (Continued)

• Peromyscus rufinus 65

Peromyscus texensis subarcticus 65

Peromyscus truei 67

Perognathus flavus bimaculatus 87

Perognathus panamintinus 88

Perognathus nevadensis 88

" panamintinus 88

" parvus olivaceus 89

Pigmy vole 78

Pika 92-94

Pipistrellus hesperus 161

Pituophis catenifer deserticola 75

Pocket gopher, Green river 83

Swift 83

" Uinta 83

Pocket mouse, Apache 88

" Great Basin 89

Nevada 88

" " Panamint 88

Yavapai 87

Porcupine, Western 7, 90

" Yellow haired 90

Prairie-dog, white-tailed 52

Prairie-dog, white-tailed (Map) 53

Procyon lotor mexicanus 133

Prong horn antelope 24

Puma 107

Putorius arizonensis 144

Putorius vison 146-149

Putorius vison lutreocephalus 146-149

R

Rabbit, Colorado desert jack 105

" Rocky Mountain snowshoe 103-104

" Western white tailed jack 101

Racoon-fox 131

Racoon 8, 132 (Map) 133

Rat, Arizona wood 74, 72

" Black 62

" Brown 62

" Cinnamon bushy-tailed wood 74

" Desert wood : 70-71

" Gray bushy-tailed wood 73

" Kangaroo 86

" Long footed kangaroo 87

** Norway 62

Rattlesnake 75

Reithrodontomys megalotis aztecus 69

Reithrodontomys megalotis megalotis 67, 68

Related chipmunk 39

Ring-tail - 131

Rockchuck 58

— (Continued)

Rock squirrel 50

Rock spotted skunk 137

Rocky Mountain marten 142-143

Rocky Mountain muskrat 78

Rocky Mountain snowshoe rabbit 103-104

Rodentia 33

Rowley Cliff mouse 66

Rowley field mouse 66

Rupicaprinae 26

S

Sawatch vole .....................i.......................... 76

Say ground squirrel 46

Sciuridae ..i..... 33

Sciurinae 33

Sciurus fremonti 35

Sciurus hudsonius ventorum 33

Shrew, Dobson's 152-154

" Dusky 155

" Masked 154

" Navigator 157

Silver-haired bat 59

Skunks as rat destroyers 63

Skunk, Great Basin 136

" Rock spotted 137

Skunkbear 139

Snakes, Desert gopher 75

Gray 75

" Pacific garter .'. 75

" Red barred 75

" Wandering garter 75

Snowshoe rabbit, Rocky Mountain 103 (Map) 104

Sonoran Beaver 61

Sonoran Beaver (Map) 60

Sorex dobsoni 153

Sorex obscurus 155

Sorex personatus 152-154

Soricidae 1,53

Soricinae 153

Spermophile, Armed 49

Chestnut-tailed 47

" Elegant 4Q

" Harris 42

" Kennicott 48

" Little thirteen-lined 45

Striped 46

" Townsend 48

Utah 50

White-tailed 43

Spilogale gracilis saxatilis 137-8

Squirrel, Rock 50

g_ (Continued)

Striped spermophile 46

Subarctic field mouse 65

Swift 124

Sylvilagus auduboni baileyi 95

" Warreni 97

" Nuttalli grangeri 97

T

Tamias adsitus •„ 42

Tamias dorsalis 35

Tamias lectus 41

Tamias minimus consobrinus .— 39

Tamias minimus pictus 40

Tamias umbrinus 38

Tawny field mouse 65

Taxidea taxus ., 135

Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis 75

" ordinoides elegans 75

Thomomys ocius 83

" fossor 85

" perfallidus aureus 85

uinta .-. - - - 83

Townsend spermophile 48

true's bat 163

True's mouse 67

tJ

Ungulata 5, 10

Ursidae 126

Ursus americanus 130

Ursus horribilis bairdi ..— 127

Ursus utahensis 126

Urocyon cinereo-argenteus scotti 123

Utah grizzly 126

Utah Kangaroo Rat 86

Utah meadow vole 75

Utah prairie dog 54

Utah spermophile 50

V

Vespertilio fuscus 161

Vespertilionidae 158

Vespertilioninae 158

Vole, Big-footed 78

" Cantankerous 77

" Dwarf 76

" Peale 75

" Pigmy 78

" Sawatch 76

" Utah meadow 75

— (Continued)

Vulpes fulva macroura 118

" " argentata 120

" fulvus decussatus 121

" velox 124

W

Wapiti 12

Wasatch chipmunk 39

Weasel, Mountain 144

Weasels as rat destroyers 63

Western bat - 161

Western porcupine 90

Western white-tailed deer 15

Western white-tailed jack rabbit 101

White-tailed prairie dog 52

Wild cat, Mountain Ill

Wind river mountains chickaree 33

Wolf 7, 114

Wolverine 139

Woodchuck 56-58

Wood Rat, Arizona 74

" " Cinnamon bushy-tailed 74

" " Desert 70, 71

" " Gray bushy-tailed 73

Wyoming cottontail 95

Y

Yavapai Pocket mouse 87

Yellow-haired porcupine 90

Yellow pocket gopher ^"85

Z

Zuni Prairie dog 55

" (Map) 53

BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Vol. 12 April, 1922 Number 15

Entered as second-class matter, June 16, 1906, at the post office at
Salt Lake City, Utah, under Act of July 26, 1891. Published quarterly.
Published by the University, Salt Lake City.