XXVI a. 



Prairie Jumping-mouse. 



Zapus hudsonius campestris Preble. 



(L. campestris of the open fields or prairies.) 



Zapus hudsonius campestris Preble, 1899, N. A. Fauna No. 

 15, p. 20. 

 Type Locality. — Bear Lodge Mts., Wyoming. 



This beautiful prairie race is distinguished externally first 

 by its greater size. Preble gives ^ the average of 4 adults from 

 type locality at: Length, 8| inches (222 mm.); tail, 5t\ inches 

 (135 mm.); hind-foot, i^^^ inches (30.5 mm.). Occasionally it 

 reaches a length of 9 inches (229 mm.). 



Second, by its much more vivid colouration, having the 

 dorsal area much flecked with the colour of the sides; in fall 

 pelage this area is nearly black, while in true hudsonius it 

 is not very dark in fall, or flecked with the warm colour of 

 the sides. 



Life-history. 



This race I found fairly common at Carberry and Boggy 

 Creek, near Fort Pelly. Preble records ^ specimens from Portage 

 la Prairie, Red River, and Selkirk Settlement. V. Bailey found 

 it common in weedy places near Pembina.^ A. S. Barton writes 

 that it is quite common along the foot of Turtle Mountain. 

 No doubt it will be found in scrubby places and woodland 

 edges throughout the prairie region of south-western Manitoba. 



Its habits are believed to be the same as those of the 

 foregoing form. 



* N. A. Fauna, No. 15, 1899, p. 20. "Ibid., p. 21. 



^ Rep. Om. U. S. Dep. Agr., 1888, p. 447. 



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