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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



tail rabbit; Florida wood rat, in osage- 

 orange hedges; Alabama pocket gopher; 

 swamp rice rat {Oryzomys palustris 

 palusiris), in sloughs; cotton rat {Siqmo- 

 don hispidus hispidus); harvest-mouse 

 {Reilhrodonlomys); muskrat {Ondatra 

 zibethica zihclhica), in streams; AUe- 

 ghenian spotted skunk {Spilogale puto- 

 rius); Virginia deer, formeily. 



Birds (A. H. H.). Killdeer, bob- 

 white, mourning dove, ground dove, 

 nighthawk, meadowlark, lark sparrow, 

 field sparrow, dickcissel, loggerhead 

 shrike, mockingbird. 



Reptiles. Box turtle (Terrapene Caro- 

 lina Carolina); glass snake; black snake; 

 coachwhip snake; corn snake. 



2. Local areas 



A . Swamp and marsh. Byfar the most 

 conspicuous and important of the local 

 areas in the state is a series of wet 

 situations which may be designated 

 collectively as swamp. Of these situa- 

 tions the following may be distinguished: 

 moist bottomlands, wooded swamps, 

 canebrake, rivers and streams, and salt 

 marshes. Characteristic trees of moist 

 bottomland are water oak, willow oak, 

 swamp chestnut oak, elm, mulberry, 

 poplar, ironwood, and scaly-bark hick- 

 ory. Characteristic trees of wooded 

 swamps are white bay, cypress, water 

 oak, black gum, swamp maple, red 

 maple, water hickory, water ash, white 

 cedar, and swamp cottonwood. These 

 trees do not all occur together, how- 

 ever, for certain ones as the ba}', swamp 

 maple, and white cedar, grow in peaty 

 swamps bordering small streams, where 

 there is no great fluctuation in water 

 level; and certain other trees, as the 

 red maple, water hickory, water ash, 

 and swamp cottonwood, are found in 

 swamps bordering larger rivers, where 

 they are subject to considerable seasonal 

 fluctuations in the water level. The 

 canebrake is made up of a dense growth 

 of bamboo-like grasses (Arundinaria) , 

 which reach a height of 15 to 30 ft. 

 Cane is abundant along streams on low 

 land which is submerged a part of the 

 year. Formerly a smaller switch cane 



occurred extensively over much of the 

 western part of the prairie belt. Trees 

 occurring chiefly along rivers and 

 streams are silver maple, sycamoie, 

 birch, willow, cottonwood, and catalpa. 

 In the salt marshes along the coast 

 there are no trees, the dominant vegeta- 

 tion being reed-like grasses and large 

 rushes. 



Animals. Mammals. Virginia opos- 

 sum, swampy bottom lands; Carolina 

 short-tailed shrew, moist or peaty soil, 

 rotten logs; Florida black bear; south- 

 eastern wolf, formerly, now extermi- 

 nated here; gray fox, in all sections; 

 raccoon (Procyon lotor lotor), timbered 

 swamps, river bottoms, salt marshes; 

 mink (Mustela vison mink), swamps, 

 marshes, streams; Alabama weasel 

 {Mustela peninsvlae olivacea), scarce 

 throughout the state in timbered swamps 

 and on mountain slopes, dens under 

 roots of trees and in hollow stumps; 

 otter {Lutra canadensis canadensis), 

 sparingly distributed, swamps, streams, 

 ponds; cougar, once here, perhaps some 

 still remain; bob-cat, swamps, brushy 

 thickets, canebrake; cotton - mouse, 

 heavy timbered swamps of river bot- 

 toms in all parts of state; southern 

 golden mouse {Peromyscus nuttalli aure- 

 olus), swampy woodland, canebrake; 

 swamp rice rat, marshy areas in fields, 

 wooded swamps, coastal salt marshes; 

 cotton rat, abundant in marshes; Florida 

 wood rat, wooded bottoms or swamps; 

 pine mouse, sometimes in bottomland 

 timber; muskrat, streams and ponds, 

 except in south of state; Louisiana 

 muskrat {Ondatra rivalicia) marshes 

 near coast, west of Mobile Bay; south- 

 western chipmunk, most of state, moist 

 bottomland woods, timbered swamps; 

 gray squirrel, moist bottomlands and 

 swamps, nut-bearing trees; bayou graj' 

 squirrel {Sciurus carolinensis fuligino- 

 sus), confined to shores of bayous and 

 deep cypress swamps; southeastern 

 flying squirrel, hollow trees and stumps; 

 beaver {Castor canadensis carolinensis), 

 formerly in streams throughout state, 

 now very local; eastern cottontail 

 rabbit, occasionally in swampy bottoms; 



