Plains Pocket Mouse ; Ord's Kangaroo Rat 



Plains Pocket Mouse 



Perognathus flavescens (Merriam) 



Length. 5 inches. 



Description. External cheek pouches lined with hair opening 01 

 either side of the mouth; hair harsh; grayish buff above mixec 

 with dusky white below, sides, ring around eye anc 

 spot behind the eye clear buff, feet and legs white. 



Range. Plains from South Dakota to northern Texas and west to 

 the base of the Rocky Mountains. Numerous other species 

 occur throughout the sandy arid regions of the West from 

 British Columbia to Mexico and California. 



Very little is known of the life history of the pocket mice, 

 mainly because they are strictly nocturnal in habits and pass 

 the daytime in their burrows in the sandy ground with the 

 openings generally stopped with earth. Like the gophers they 

 carry their food in their curious cheek pouches and store it 

 away in their subterranean granaries. 



Ord's Kangaroo Rat 



Perodipus ordi (Woodhouse) 



Length. 9.60 inches. 



Description. Ochraceous buff above, blackish on the rump. Sides 

 of nose, spot behind each ear and band across the thighs 

 white, under parts white; tail dusky down the middle, above 

 and below, showing white bases to hairs on either side. 



Range. Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Many other 

 species occur through the arid regions of the West. 



This is another nocturnal inhabitant of the sandy plains of 

 the Southwest. It makes an underground nest with numerous 

 communicating passageways, the whole forming a low hillock which 

 easily caves in and which horses and mules familiar with the 

 country have learned to carefully avoid. 



Ernest Seton-Thompson gives an interesting account of a nest 

 of this little animal which he investigated. It was situated under 

 the sheltering spines of a bunch of Spanish bayonets and thistles, 

 which guarded effectually from would-be pursuers the nine open- 



100 



