MAMMALS OF THE REGION 107 



wall where claw holds might well require the balance of 

 a long and spreading tail; or long leaps from point to 

 point a squirrel-like rudder; for the flattened tail is 

 more squirrel-like than cat- or raccoon-like. 



To obtain specimens I went to the smaller caves in 

 Walnut and Slaughter canyons, where the ring-tails 

 were more numerous, and in one of the caves, high up 

 on the side of the mountain and not easily reached, 

 they were so numerous that trails and fresh tracks led 

 into every nook and corner, and especially into the small 

 tunnels where no larger animal could follow, and where 

 there were evidently well protected breeding dens. 



The animals are rarely seen except when caught in 

 traps. They follow the cliffs and canyon walls from 

 one cave to another, and undoubtedly make journeys 

 from one canyon to another, but in most places caves 

 are their real homes. They are strictly nocturnal, and 

 their large eyes are well adapted to night use, but how 

 they find their way about and catch their prey in the 

 utter darkness of the deeper caves are unsolved 

 mysteries . 



They are hunters, but their food is varied to include 

 almost any small animal life, mammals, birds, insects, 

 centipedes, and fruit. The pellets of old dried excre- 

 ment from the inner shelves of the cave showed a mix- 

 ture of bones, fur, feathers, and insect shells, remains 

 of cave mice, wood rats, guano bats, cave crickets, and 

 other insects. In some cases the bones and fur showed 

 their food to have consisted entirely of guano bats, and 

 these must have been caught as they crowded out or in 

 the cave doorway during periods of great abundance. 



