MAMMALS OF THE REGION 89 



the size of the banner-tails and lack the white tip to 

 the long, slender tails. They are buffy brown, with 

 white markings and white lower parts. 



POCKET MICE 



Perognathas 



Pocket mice of three species are known from the 

 Pecos Valley at Carlsbad, the large, coarse-haired 

 Kansas pocket mouse (Perognathus hispidus paradoxus) ; 

 the little, soft, yellow Dutcher pocket mouse (Perogna- 

 thus merriami gilvus), originally described from Carls- 

 bad specimens; and the tiny, yellow Baird pocket 

 mouse (Perognathus flavus) of the Rio Grande Valley, 

 which also comes up the Pecos Valley and has been 

 collected at Carlsbad. None of these was taken in my 

 traps near the cave, but jaws and parts of their skulls 

 were found among the small bones under the owl nests 

 at the cave entrance. There are still other species of 

 the brush-tailed group of pocket mice that might occur 

 here, but none of their bones was recognized. 



All of these little pocket-bearing animals are desert 

 dwellers, nocturnal burrowers of retiring, but very 

 interesting, habits. Most of those studied were gentle 

 and quite willing to be handled and stroked, even from 

 the moment of capture, and they make unusually 

 attractive pets. They are great storers of food and 

 consequently rather inclined to be solitary in habits, 

 and more or less greedy in robbing each other's stores, 

 two of them often spending a whole night in stealing 

 food from each other and hiding it in different corners 

 of the cage. 



