462 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxn. 



LEPUS FLORIDANUS MEARNSI (Allen). 

 PRAIRIE COTTONTAIL. 



The rabbit occurring here seems to be the western form of the com- 

 mon cottontail. This is to be expected^ since it has been reported 

 from central New York. 



VULPES FULVUS (Desmarest). 

 RED FOX." 



The red fox is not common in the marshes, though occasionally 

 taken there. At Mountayr they were very abundant and trouble- 

 some. One farmer told me that he had had 150 chickens killed by 

 them during the spring and summer of 1905. He dug up some of 

 the chickens they had buried and poisoned them and afterwards 

 found the carcasses of four foxes which had been poisoned and he 

 believed others were killed which he did not find. 



CANIS OCCIDENTALIS (Richardson). 

 TIMBER WOLF. 



The timber wolf is said to live in the Kankakee swamps in small 

 numbers. Reports are conflicting, however, and the following species 

 may be the only wolf surviving in that region at the present time. 

 The proper specific name for the timber wolf of this region is also a 

 matter of uncertainty. 



CANIS LATRANS Say. 

 COYOTE: PRAIRIE WOLF. 



There is no doubt that the coyote has increased in numbers and 

 extended its range in northern Indiana during the past ten years. 

 One reason for this is doubtless the fencing of the swamps for cattle 

 ranges, which has made hunting on horseback impracticable. It 

 may be also that the race has become better adapted to the presence of 

 man by becoming more wary or by modifying its habits in some way. 

 In a letter to the writer, Hon. L. Harrow of Laporte, says that he has 

 seen as many as 20 prairie wolves in a pack on one occasion and at 

 another time 8. Mr. C. W. Bussel, of McCoysburg, Jasper County, 

 also writes that they congregate in large numbers during the mating 

 season, which is in February. Mr. Bussel killed 10 of these animals 

 during the winter of 1903-4, and other hunters also killed a number 

 in the same vicinity. He further says that they live in burrows which 

 they dig in the knolls on the prairie ; that from 5 to 1 1 young are born 

 to each female between the 1st and 15th of April; that these wolves 



"The newspapers occasionally contain stories of "wild cats" being seen in thie 

 region and it is possible that the Canada lynx or the red lynx still exists in the swamps. 

 However, the reports are too vague to credit. 



