66 NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



Mountains, their nearest neig-hbors being- in the Black Hills, over 100 

 miles to the north, from which the ridg-e is separated by the broad Hat 

 Creek Basin. In this connection it is interesting- to note that a few 

 species of the Canadian flora are also found in the deepest and darkest 

 canons. 



Among the birds we find an exact parallel. The breeding- of such 

 species as Townsend's Solitaire, the White-winged Junco, and the Moun- 

 tain Bluebird clearlj^ points to the fact that the environment, if not 

 strictly Canadian, is certainly favorable for Canadian breeders. This 

 region fairly teems with bird life, both as to number of species repre- 

 sented and number of individuals. Among breeding birds are the 

 liOuisiana Tanager, x\udnbon's Warbler, Lewis's Woodpecker, the Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk, the Oven-bird, Krider's Hawk, the Plumbeous Vireo, the 

 Western Warbling Vireo, Cabanis's Woodpecker, the Slender-billed Nut- 

 hatch, the Chipping Sparrow, the Prairie Falcon, and the Olive-backed 

 Thrush (?). 



The number of mammals found in the caiions is much smaller than 

 might naturally be expected. The White-tailed Deer, the Yellow-haired 

 Porcupine, the Long-tailed Weasel (?), a chipmunk (Tamias minimus), 

 a wood rat (Neotoma rupicola), a white-footed mouse {Peromyscus t. suh- 

 arctictis'?), and a mole (Scnlops a. macliriims), are characteristic species. 



Hat Cbkek Basin. — This is the name applied to the extensive valley 

 or gap which lies between Pine Eidge and the Black Hills. It is fully 

 100 miles wide and embraces portions of Wyoming, Nebraska, and South 

 Dakota, varying in altitude from nearly 4000 feet on Indian Creek to 

 3600 in its eastern portion. The chief watercourse, Hat Creek, which 

 flows through the center of the region in a general northeasterly 

 direct-ion, is fed by numerous small streams having their sources in 

 the canons on the north slope of Pine Eidge. From the Wyoming line 

 eastward the principal ones are, successively, Indian, Antelope, Squaw, 

 Jim, Warbonnet, Monroe, Prairie Dog, Bad Land, and Sowbelly creeks. 

 The banks are invariably clothed with a heavy growth of deciduous 

 trees for a mile or more out into the valley but beyond this are bare, 

 or merely stipport a sparse growth of cottonwoods, while the water 

 becomes alkaline. Since it is not within the province of the present 

 paper to go beyond the boundaries of Nebraska I shall confine myself 

 to that portion of the basin which lies between Pine Eidge and the 

 South Dakota line, and between the B. &. M. E. E. and the Wyoming 

 line, although exactly similar conditions obtain in southwestern South 

 Dakota and eastern Wyoming. 



In its eastern portion, east of a line drawn north from the mouth of 

 Monroe Canon, there are extensive areas of bad lands and naked buttes, 

 marked by a great scarcity of vegetation of all kinds. Throughout this 

 bad lands region the water is strongly alkaline and the streams usually 

 go dry after July 1. The western portion of the basin is an undulating 

 expanse of cactus plains and sage brush, the latter being confined to 



