Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology 21 



Watkins, of Manchester, reports shooting one in a large swamp 

 near Pleasant Lake in the fall of 1907, 



Sylvilagiis Horidanus mearnsii. Mearns Cottontail. — The 

 cottontail was formerly common only in the southern part of 

 Michigan, but it now occurs over all the cultivated area of the 

 Lower Peninsula. It has increased with and followed the civ- 

 ilization that furnished an abundance of food and destroyed 

 many of its enemies. 



I have several times found nests in meadows and cultivated 

 fields. The nest is built in a deep form and is lined with fur 

 from the mother's body and fine grass. The young are com- 

 pletely hidden when left by the mother. April 16, 1920, I 

 found a nest containing five young in a stubblefield at Portage 

 Lake. The young were well covered w^ith hair, but the eyes 

 W'Cre not open. April 20, 1920, I found another nest contain- 

 ing young on the lawn of an unoccupied house near the shore 

 of Portage Lake. The number of young was not determined. 

 May 5 the young were gone and the nest was deserted. May 

 16, 1920, L. R. Dice saw four young cottontails with their eyes 

 open in the possession of a boy. They were taken from a 

 nest near Ann Arbor. 



About May 10, some years ago, I saw a cottontail jump into 

 and swim across Mill Creek in this county. The animal was 

 not pursued nor driven in any way into the water. Some- 

 times when caught alive the cottontail utters a loud, shrill crv. 



Bison bison bison. American Bison. — According to the 

 reports of the early explorers, this large mammal, in the eigh- 

 teenth century, occupied, or at least visited, the southern bor- 

 der of the state of Michigan. Although we have no record of 

 its occurrence in this county, its remains have been found just 

 over the western border of the count}- by L. D. Watkins, who 



