62 ZOOLOGY. 



FIBEB ZIBETHICUS, Cuv. 



The Muskrat. 



Baird, Gen. Eep. Mammals, 1857, 561. 



I have yet to obtain evidence of the existence of the muskrat in California, or even in Oregon, 

 though I suspect it may be found in some parts of that Territory. In the Sacramento valley, 

 in the Klamath lake region, in the basin of the Des Chutes, places apparently fitted by nature 

 to be paradises of muskrats, shallow rush-grown lakes and rush-bordered canal-like streams, 

 just where, in the eastern States, muskrats would abound, though I looked carefully, I never 

 saw the animal, his track, his habitations, nor even his characteristic heaps of emptied shells 

 of Unio and Anodonta. I therefore concluded that in all this region the muskrat does not exist. 



At Steilacoom, Washington Territory, and from there across the country to Fort Colville, 

 and thence to the Bocky mountains and the head of Snake river, the " musquash " is found, if 

 not plentifully, at least generally. Specimens from several localities which I have seen differ 

 in nothing, to my eye, from the muskrat of the eastern States. 



EBETHIZON EPIXANTHUS, Brandt. 



Yellow-haired Porcupine. 



Erethizan epixanthus, Brandt, Mem. Acad. St. Petersburgh, 1835, 389, 416; table i, animal ; table ix, fig. 1 — 4, 

 skull. — Ib. Mamm. exot. 55, (same as preceding.) 

 Schinz, Synopsis Mamm. II, 1845, 266. 

 Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm. II, 1848, 442. 

 Baird, Kep. Mammals, 1857, 569. 



Sp. Ch.— General color dark brown, nearly black ; the long hairs of the body tipped with greenish yellow. Nasal bones 

 nearly one-half or two-fifths the length of upper surface of the skull. 



The porcupine is an inhabitant of all our western territories. Most abundant in Oregon and 

 Washington ; it is not uncommon in the wooded portions of California. The fine specimen which 

 I brought home was killed at Fort Beading, California, by Dr. J. F. Hammond, U. S. A. 



The food of the porcupine is exclusively vegetable ; in the eastern States, in winter, it feeds on 

 the bark and small branches of hemlock, birch, poplar, &c; in California, whenever driven by 

 the snows to the trees for subsistence, it eats the cotton-wood, and in Oregon both that and the 

 hemlock. 



LEPUS CAMPESTBIS, Bach. 



Prairie Hare. 



Lepus campestris, Bach., J. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, n, 1837, 349.— Ib. VHI, i, 1839, 80. 



Baird, Gen. Kep. Mammals, 1857, 585. 

 Lepus townscndii, Baciiman, J. A. N. Sc. Phila. VIU, i, 90 ; pi. ii. 



Atjd. & Bach., N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 25 ; pi. iii. 

 Lepus viryinianus, Bich., F. B. Am. I, 1829, 224. 



Sp. Ch. — Larger than Lepus americanus. Ears about one-fifth longer than the head. Fur soft and full, especially in winter. 

 Tail as long as the head. Hind feet considerably longer than the head ; somewhat longer than the ears. 



In summer, back, rump, sides of limbs, external and internal bands of the ear, and the throat, yellowish grey, varied more 

 or less with brown. Beneath white. Tail entirely white, above and below ; in some specimens only with a faint wash of 

 ash above. Nape and interior surface of ears white, except as stated ; the latter tipped with black. 



In winter, pure white all over, with a yellowish tinge. Ears white, tipped with brown ; the external and internal bands 

 rU6ty grey. Fur on the ears and elsewhere much longer and fuller than in summer. Hir on the upper part and sides pure 

 white on the basal half. 



