ORIGINAL BIOTA OF THE AMERICAS 



more or less closed sod of perennial 

 grasses, distributed as follows: 



Tall grass prairie west to central 

 Dakotas, eastern third of Nebraska 

 and central Kansas; tall and short 

 grasses forming sod in all of grassland 

 north of central Kansas and Colorado, 

 west to Rockies, except in sand or where 

 overgrazed. South of this is mostly 

 scattered grass steppe; west of it mostly 

 bunch-grass steppe. Bunch-grass oc- 

 curs regularly in sand. A scattering 

 representation of desert forms is present, 

 particularly in the "bad lands," shrubs 

 are locally present, in portions of the 

 area (bush steppe) and the evergreen 

 forests advance from the west onto 

 hills and rocky soil, while the Deciduous 

 Forest encroaches from the east through 

 the valleys of the largest streams. A 

 number of species of herbaceous peren- 

 nials are found in all parts of the Grass- 

 land, being chiefly Composities. The 

 leading grasses are the gramas {Boute- 

 loiia), buffalo grass {Bulbilis dacty- 

 loides), and prairie grass {Koeleria 

 cristata) . 



The mammals included immense herds 

 of bison, large herds of pronghorn 

 antelope {Aniilocapra americana), wolf 

 {Cards spp.), coyote {Cards spp.), 

 white-tailed jackrabbit {Lepus town- 

 sendii subspp.), kit fox {Vulpes velox), 

 and "towns" of prairie-dogs {Cynomys). 



Breeding birds include the followmg: 

 upland plover, killdeer, bob-white, Flor- 

 ida bob-white (Florida prairies), prairie 

 chicken, lesser prairie chicken, prairie 

 sharp-tailed grouse, western mourning 

 dove, turkey vulture, marsh hawk, 

 Swainson's hawk, ferruginous rough-leg, 

 prairie falcon, duck hawk, sparrow 

 hawk, desert sparrow hawk, burrowing 

 owl, poor-will, western nighthawk, Ben- 

 nett's nighthawk, scissor-tailed fly- 

 catcher, kingbird, Arkansas kingbird, 

 phoebe, Say's phoebe, prairie horned 

 lark, desert horned lark, dusky horned 

 lark, magpie, cowbird, meadowlark, 

 western meadowlark, southern meadow- 

 lark, Bullock's oriole, Brewer's black- 

 bird, goldfinch, chestnut-collared long- 

 spur, McCown's longspur, vesper 



sparrow, western vesper sparrow, Oregon 

 vesper sparrow, savanna sparrow, west- 

 ern savanna sparrow, Baird's sparrow, 

 grasshopper sparrow, western grass- 

 hopper sparrow, Florida grasshopper 

 sparrow, Ilenslow's sparrow, western 

 Henslow's sparrow, Leconte's sparrow, 

 Nelson's sparrow, lark sparrow, western 

 lark sparrow, western field sparrow, 

 western chipping sparrow, clay-colored 

 sparrow. Brewer's sparrow, song spar- 

 row, Dakota song sparrow, dickcissel, 

 lark bunting, purple martin, cliff swal- 

 low, barn swallow, white-rumped shrike, 

 migrant shrike, Sprague's pipit, western 

 house wren, robin, western robin, and 

 bluebird. 



Breeding birds preferring a moist 

 habitat, generally near a stream, in- 

 clude the following: tree swallow, bank 

 swallow, rough-winged swallow, Mary- 

 land yellow-throat, western yellow- 

 throat, northern yellow-throat, and 

 short-billed marsh wren. 



Breeding birds whose habitat is 

 limited to the presence of water, gener- 

 ally a local condition, include the follow- 

 ing: sandhill crane, Wilson's phalarope, 

 avocet, Wilson's snipe, marbled godwit, 

 solitary sandpiper, western willet, spot- 

 ted sandpiper, and long-billed curlew, 

 prairie marsh wren. 



10. TEMPERATE DESERT-GRASSLAND 



BIOTA (includes DESERT- GR.\SS 



LAND TRANSITION, SHREVE; DES- 

 ERT PLAINS, CLEMENTS; THE NORTH- 

 ERNMOST EXTENSION OF THE GREAT 

 BASIN MICROPHYLL DESERT, SHREVB) 



A region intermediate in character 

 between the grassland and the deserts 

 of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and 

 Idaho. 



An open carpet of i)erennial grasses 

 and ephemeral or root-pcrennial her- 

 baceous plants, with a more or less 

 sparing representation of succulent and 

 semi-succulent forms. The leading 

 Grassland plants (in southern localities) 

 are the gramas {Bouteloua) aiul gallcta 

 grass {Hilaria), and the chief desert 

 plants are palmilla, amole, and a small 

 group of cacti. 



