WOOD BATS 



119 



from the digger pine, and this covering seemed to have protected the 

 interior of the nest effectively against moisture. At one end of the log 

 was an entrance to the interior and here was accumulated a mass of drop- 

 pings and other debris which the animals had removed from within the 

 house. Inside the house, partly or completely inside the log, were no less 

 than four beds or nests proper; only one of these was occupied when the 

 place was examined. The beds were composed of shredded wood, dry twigs 

 and grass stems, and some green leaves. In one place a quantity of fresh 

 young leaves of the golden oak was found. Three holes led out from the 

 main interior cavity of the house, one of these going down lengthwise of 

 the log, while the two others went into the ground. 



dump 



Pig. 14. Sketch showing interior arrangement of nesting quarters of a Streator 

 Wood Eat in a hollow log. Locality, three miles east of Coulterville, June 2, 1915. 



In one of the beds a very young wood rat was found ; and an adult 

 animal ran out of the same nest as the place was opened up. No other 

 wood rats were seen nor had any been trapped adjacent to this log during 

 the few days preceding, so it seems likely that the place was tenanted by 

 just the two. Part of the interior of the nest contained a mouldy mass 

 of old droppings and bits of twigs, and fresher droppings were found about 

 the beds. The animals seem to exercise none of the precautions for clean- 

 liness observable in some rodents, for example, pocket gophers. The damp 

 earth beneath one nest abounded in fleas, though none of these pests were 

 to be seen on the young wood rat which was found in this nest. 



The breeding season of the Streator Wood Rat, to judge from the 

 capture of strictly juvenile specimens, includes most of the warm months 

 of the year. Thus, a juvenile animal trapped at Pleasant Valley on 

 May 19 (1915) points to an early commencement of breeding activitj', 

 possibly in March ; whereas an immature specimen captured on Novem- 

 ber 24 (1915) near Cascades could not have been born earlier than 

 September. Trapping in May and June, however, gave evidence that 

 the greatest amount of breeding activity occurred at about that season. 

 Most of the females taken then were suckling young, and two nests 

 examined each held a single young animal. A female collected May 24 



