10 ANATOMY OF THE WOOD RAT 



least two of its races normally live as low as the Upper 

 Sonoran zone; but the subgenus is essentially boreal in its 

 predilections. The subspecies dnerea is usually found amid 

 the park-like country of the high mountains, where it fre- 

 quents rock sHdes. It may also be found wherever there 

 is cover of a comparable character, as in abandoned 

 buildings. 



Deep among the rocks it has its nest of sticks and trash, 

 and even when there is no other evidence from above, the 

 location of its home is often advertised by the characteristic 

 odor of the animal. During favorable seasons individuals 

 may fairly swarm in certain slides, while there is no sign of 

 them in others apparently as suitable. From the slides the 

 vicinage is scoured for suitable food during the hours of 

 darkness. Where they occur the snowfall is usually heavy, 

 and it is beheved that they are active throughout the winter. 

 Hence they must accumulate some sort of food supply. 

 They too are partial to seeds and nuts, but throughout most 

 of their range chipmunks {Eutamias) fairly swarm, and these, 

 being more active and wide-ranging as well, secure most of 

 the harvest. Teonoma must therefore rely to a great extent 

 upon less concentrated fodder, and I have found it feeding 

 on the stems of grasses and the bark of alders. Invariably 

 the stomachs of the scores of individuals examined have been 

 crammed with herbaceous matter, which imparted a tinge 

 of green to the entire alimentary tract. It is believed that 

 this character of food constitutes by far the largest propor- 

 tion of the total consumed by this subgenus. 



These animals are adept at climbing rocks and the intri- 

 cacies of old buildings, and doubtless they would be equally 

 at home among the tree tops. It is not believed that they 

 indulge in tree climbing, however, except rarely for some 

 special fruit. 



