OCT., 1899.] MAMMALS. 103 



Ovis canadensis Shaw. Bighorn; Mountain Sheep. 



The bighorn no longer inhabits Shasta, but its bleacliing- bones still 

 remain. In early days, and as late as the seventies, many were killed 

 here by J. IT. Sisson, of Sisson Tavern. Sheep Itock, at the northeast 

 base of the mountain, was one of their favorite and latest resorts, but 

 probably was not nsed during the breeding season. In 18G8 George 

 B. Mitchell saw a band of twenty near the bead of Mud Creek Canyon. 

 In 1883 C. H. Townseml found numbers of tlieir horns and bones scat- 

 tered about everywhere on Sheep Bock, and saw the complete skeleton 

 of a bighorn at the foot of Mud Creek glacier, high up on Shasta. An 

 old skull was found on Bed Butte by Vernon Bailey during our stay. 



Canis lestes ]\[erriam. Mountain Coyote. 



Common high up on the mountain, frequenting the pumice slopes 

 above timberline, where their tracks were often seen. Coyotes were 

 especially common east of Mud Creek Canyon, wliere B. T. Fisher 

 saw two early in August. As no specimens were secured, the species is 

 uncertain, but since C. lestes is the animal inhabiting tbe Sierra farther 

 south and (in a somewhat less typical form) the Klamath country farther 

 north, it is assumed to be the mountain coyote of Shasta. 



Canis ochropus Esch. Valley Coyote. 



Common in Shasta valley and also at Sisson. B. T. Bisher heard them 

 nearly every night during his stay at Sisson, from the end of August 

 until the middle of September; and about the end of September Ver- 

 non Bailey and W. H. Osgood heard tliem howl at night in the south 

 end of Shasta valley. A little ftirther north, in the flat valley near 

 Montague, I saw a highly colored one at close quarters in tlie day time 

 August 31. In July, 1899, Walter K. Fisher secured one in Shasta 

 Valley. 



Vulpes macrourus liaird. Mountain Bed Fox. 



Common on the upper slopes above timberline, where fresh tracks 

 were seen nearly every day; but the animals were very wary and refused 

 to enter our traps. 



Urocyon californicus townsendi subsp. nov. Townseud Gray Fox. 



Type from Baird, Shasta County, Calif. No. 14130, U. S. Nat. ]Miisemii. Collected 

 November 11, 1893, by C. H. Townsend. Orig. No. 49. 



Characters. — Similar to V. caJlfornicns Mearns, but ears decidedly 

 smaller; fulvous tints everywhere darker and richer; rostrum broader; 

 zygomata broader anteriorly; carnassial teeth above and below, larger 

 and thicker. The color of the up])erparts and tail is grizzled gray and 

 black, as in californieus^ but the fulvous of the ears, legs, and under- 

 parts is very much darker and somewhat more extensive. The sides of 

 neck and posterior part of throat are rufous, in sharp contrast with the 

 restricted white of the chin and anterior part of throat ; the ears are 



