NATURAL AliKAS AM:> KIOGIONS 



551 



eastern Nebraska, the Dakotas and 

 Manitoba to the foothills of the Rockies. 

 Western South Dakota is rather cen- 

 trally located in this vast, rather uni- 

 form region, and the following account 

 is serviceable for considerable peripheral 

 areas. 



Conspicuous animals of (he short grass 

 formation of South Dakota^ 



Birds. Among the birds^ the oidy 

 permanent resident represented by many 

 individuals is the desert horned lark.' 

 Longspurs of some si)ecics are found in 

 all seasons, the chestnut-collared and 

 McCown's longspurs nesting here abun- 

 dantly and the Lapland longspur winter- 

 ing. Two other members of the sparrow 

 family, the lark bunting and the western 

 vesper sparrow are verj' numerous; tlie 

 former is quite characteristic, as is also 

 the desert horned lark. Other prom- 

 inent nesting birds are the Brewer 

 blackbird, burrowing owl, Sennett's 

 nighthawk and upland plover. For- 

 merly the long-billed curlew and the 

 prairie sharp-tailed grouse were com- 

 mon. Several kinds of birds nest in 

 the groves of scattered trees along the 

 streams (considered here under wood- 

 land), but often feed along the steppe 

 far from their nests. Examples are: 

 the ferruginous rough-legged Swainson's 

 and sparrow hawks. The cliff and barn 

 sw^allows, nesting on cliffs or about 

 buildings, are also seen often. 



Mammals. No conspicuous species 

 appears to be confined in its range to 

 the steppe of South Dakota, though 

 several varieties are. Of these the 

 plains coyote (Canis nebracensis), 

 pocket-gopher (Geomys bursarius and 



8 Based on "The BioKeography," Chapt. vi. pp. 

 80-108 of "The Geographv of Soutli Dakota, Hull. 

 8 S D Geol. Surv., Vermillion, .S.D. 1918. Soo also 

 The Biooraphy of the Northern Great Plains, Geocr. 

 Rev vol 11, pp. 89-11.5, AuRUst, 1916, The Geocra- 

 phv' Geology and Biology of south-central tvmth 

 Dakota. Bull 5. 1912, and The Biology o I ^.r.hng 

 County, south we-stern Soutli Dakota, Hull u, ol. 

 the South Dakota Geol. Surv., 1911. 



9 Scientific names are given in the papers men- 

 tioned in the preceding footnote, where phinU and 

 environmental conditions are also discusse<l. 



Thomnmiin Bpp.), and certain mice und 

 vole.s may l)o mentioned. Other mum- 

 inals alxindtintly roprcBcntcd on the 

 .'<lo|)|K' are the prairi" ' '" i 



biiliivtriiiuiis), biiiJKcr '' , 



jackraliliit (Lcpua totcnaendii cam- 

 ])(niju.s), Ktrii^cd and Hjiottcd Hkunk« 

 {^ff])hili.'i hwlnonica and Sjnlogalc infrr- 

 rupld), gray wolf {Cania occidenlnlin), 

 kit-fox iVul-pcs vclox), lonR-tailcd wea-sol 

 (Mustrln longicaudn), Btripcd ground 

 squirrel {('ilcUus triilcccm litifatua 

 sub.sp.), an<l formerly the antelope 

 {Andlocapra amcricana) and hison 

 (Bison liison). 



Other animals. The most common 

 snake is the plain bull-snake iPituophia 

 sayi), with the plains blue racer (Cohihrr 

 con.slrictor flavivcntris) next and the 

 prairie rattlesnake {Crotahis conflucntua) 

 third in most places and seasons. The 

 horned-lizard (Phryiiosovia) is numeroiiH 

 in many localities. The common toad 

 (Bufo uootlhousii) is seen frequently. 

 The Great Plains toad (Bufo cognatxut) 

 is characteristic but not abundant. 



Invertebrates aside from the insects 

 are unimportant in this group of asso- 

 ciations. It appears that only three of 

 the numerous phyla are represented, 

 the protozoa relatively sparsely, mol- 

 lusca chiefly by only one species of land 

 snail (Succinca grosvcnorii) and the 

 arthropoda by a few spiders and centi- 

 pedes, and by numerous insects of six 

 of the eight orders: Orthoptera (gr i~^- 

 hopiiers and locusts), Diptcra '^gniit:', 

 mosquitoes, flics), Ix'pidoptera (butter- 

 flies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles) 

 and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ant,H 

 Ichneumons) and Hemiptera (buKS). 

 The locusts and grasshoi»i>ers are the 

 most conspicuous insects and most 

 injurioiis. 



The IIymenoi)tera of several families 

 (digger wasyis, ants, wooly Ix'es) are 

 al)undant. Blow flies, hot flie.< 

 lihihisniui) and robber flies are p.. i. ;..... 

 Le|)idoptera are few upon the stepjH'. 

 The beetles are mostly ground beetles. 

 Bugs are very rare u|K»n the «t«ppe. 



