Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology g 



underbrush varies much in height and denseness; mostly it is 

 quite open, so that one can easily walk through the forest, but 

 in a few places the growth is more dense. Common members 

 of the underbrush on the higher ground are the small beeches, 

 sugar maples, and the spice-bush. Benzoin aestivale; while on the 

 lower benches along the river seedlings of the paw-paw dominate 

 the undergrowth. The ground is heavily covered by decaying 

 leaves and a little dead brush and fallen branches, but nearly 

 all the logs have been removed. Early in the spring a thick 

 growth of herbs covers the ground, but by July the herbs aie mostly 

 gone, only a few remaining, and there are many small bare areas 

 covered only by leaves. The soil under this forest seems to be 

 mainly clay; in spring or after heavy rains pools of water are 

 formed, and these remain for a long time. 



Between July 21 and August 27 a total of two hundred and 

 eighty-five mouse traps set in the upland forest took on the first 

 nights one short-tailed shrew and thirty northern white-footed 

 mice. In addition to these species pine voles and a jumping 

 mouse were trapped on days after the first. One shrew was 

 caught alive August 30, as he was running about on the forest 

 floor at 7:30 A.M. A few tracks of raccoon were seen from time 

 to time on the road leading through the woods. A few fresh 

 burrows of woodchucks were noted at the edges of benches and 

 of ravines. A few red squirrels were seen at different times and 

 two collected. Fox squirrels were rare, being noted only a few 

 times; Mr. Norman A. Wood also saw these squirrels on two 

 occasions in May. One cottontail was shot, in the climax forest. 

 Mr. Wood collected a chipmunk in the climax forest on May 15, 

 1918, and saw another in the same habitat in May, 1919. 



Aerial habitat: 



Bats were seen on a few evenings, flying about over the climax 

 forest, and over the adjacent region, but they were extremely 

 rare, and efforts to shoot a specimen failed. 



