HOFFMEISTER & MOHR: ILLINOIS MAMMALS 35 



ways or nests or in feeding. Beavers, in their feeding, leave 

 marks of their teeth on hranches, fig. 28^, and. in their home 

 building, fell and cut up trees, even large ones. 



Food Signs. — Food caches, partially eaten food, certain un- 

 palatable objects, and discarded fragments of food items may 

 furnish clues to the mammals associated with them. Food frag- 

 ments may be either animal remains or plant remains. 



Annual Remains. — Wings of flies and moths on the floor of a 

 building or cave, or within a hollow tree, are excellent signs of 

 bats. Insect remains mixed with snail shells in a ground nest 

 usually mean the presence of shrews. A shallow hole with frag- 

 ments of turtle eggs scattered about usually means that a skunk 

 or a raccoon has had a feast there. Bird feathers around a hole 

 in a bank suggest the presence of a mink or weasel, and bird 

 feathers and rabbit remains around a large hole in an upland 

 situation indicate the presence of a fox or coyote. 



Vegetable Remains. — Bundles of cut grasses on the open 

 ground, each section 2 to 3 inches long, indicate that a jumping 

 mouse lives nearby. If the sections are shorter, fig. 30, and in a 

 runway, they suggest the work of voles, or their relatives the 

 bog lemmings or pine mice. In a rock crevice, a cache of nuts 

 and seeds with such inedible objects as paper and corncobs hints 

 of the presence of a wood rat; in or near human habitations, 

 these signs suggest the activity of a Norway rat or a house 

 mouse. Platforms, fig. 38, of freshly cut grass, cattails, or 

 rushes in shallow water indicate the feeding site of a rice rat or 

 a muskrat. A cache of nuts and seeds in a rock crevice may 

 belong to a chipmunk or white-footed mouse; the same type of 

 sign, with possibly an ear of corn in addition, in a hollow tree 

 or building suggests food of squirrels; and a pile of nuts and 

 seeds in a ground nest probably belongs to a deer mouse. A 

 similar nest containing roots might be that of a meadow vole. 

 In an orchard, a runway leading up to a gnawed apple on the 

 ground indicates the work of a pine mouse. The combination ot 

 cut-down trees, sectioned twigs, and wide tooth marks in bark 

 can mean only the work of a beaver. 



SYNOPSIS OF ILLINOIS MAMMALS 



This section of the Fieldbook furnishes the hiker and nat- 

 uralist with a concise account of the native and naturalized 



