65 



Sialic! sialis sialis Linn. July 15. 



The bluebird is often seen on high perches in open places, and on 

 telegraph wires near bunch-grass. Not a sand-prairie species. Com- 

 monly seen in spring. 



MAMMALIA 



Pcromyscus manicidatus hairdii Hoy and Kenn. July 5, April 4. 



The white-footed prairie mouse is very common in the bunch- 

 grass, being- the most abundant rodent of the sand prairie. The 

 burrows have usually two or three openings, and are seen through- 

 out the bunch-grass, though in pastures the holes are more frequent 

 along the fences. The food is principally vegetable. Almost all 

 rodents eat animal food on occasion, and no doubt this species eats 

 a number of insects. The prairie white-foot is very prolific, there 

 being three broods each year, with from four to nine in a litter. 

 The species stores up food, remaining active all winter. Peromyscus 

 is a very important animal of the bunch-grass. The nocturnal car- 

 nivores and owls, and probably the snakes of the region, feed prin- 

 cipally on this species. Among the larger animals it occupies a simi- 

 lar position to that of Melanoplus angtistipennis among the insects. 

 It is a dominant form. It is very unlikely that Peromyscus^ hairdii 

 is the only small rodent of the sand prairie. In thickets and near 

 forest borders, the white-footed wood mouse, P. leucopus novehora- 

 censis, will probably be found; and the prairie meadow-mouse, 

 Microtus austeriis, should be present in the open fields. One of the 

 spermophiles, Citellus franklini or C. tridecemlineatus is no doubt 

 present.* 



Geomys bursarius Shaw. June 25, 28, October 7, 8. 



The burrows of pocket-gophers, with the characteristic mounds 

 of sand, are quite common in the bunch-grass, and in several places 

 were seen in blowsand with sparse vegetation. Mr. F. E. Wood has 

 taken the species at the Devil's Neck; and Mr. Herman Douthitt 

 took a number of pocket-gophers in the marginal dunes north of 

 Havana. The species is vegetarian, active during the winter, and 

 stores up large quantities of roots and other vegetable matter. It is 

 solitar}^ and strictly subterranean, coming to the surface only in the 

 breeding season. Active tunneling begins very early in spring. Dur- 

 ing the greater part of the April visit there were heavy rains, and as 

 soon as these were over manv fresh mounds were observed. Illinois 



*A fox squirrel, Sciurus nigcr ruHvciitcr Geoff., has since been se6n (August 

 22. IQ13) in the bunch-grass at the Devil's Hole, about 150 yards from a walnut 

 grove. It is properly a forest animal, and may aid in extension of the forest into 

 the prairie. 



