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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



the striking exception of the woodchuck, 

 which was probably never to be found 

 here, and the flying squirrel was at least 

 less common, occurring only in the larger 

 timber which was confined to the vicinity 

 of the water courses. The bird-life 

 differed little from that of the regions 

 previously noted, except that here the 

 prairie chicken should be added to the 

 list and the paroquet was absent. Wild 

 turkeys and bob-whites were countless 

 in number, hunters reporting tha*; the 

 former could frequently be found in 

 winter covering the ground as thickly 

 as they could stand in flocks acres in 

 extent. Omitting the alligator and 

 other distinctly southern reptiles, the 

 cold-blooded fauna was the same as that 

 in the other regions already discussed. 

 The most characteristic plant form was 

 the scrubby blackjack oak, together with 

 the native grasses and wild flowers. 

 The Dry Grassland (or Steppe} Region 

 with local exceptions, comprised the 

 remainder of the state, and on account 

 of its extent constituted the most 

 characteristic ecological feature of the 

 area under discussion. Here roamed 

 the bison (Bison bison) in herds that 

 numbered millions of head, moving 

 northward or southward with the season; 

 here too the pronghorn antelope (Anti- 

 locapra americana) flashed his signals 

 in numbers too great to be counted, 

 but thought by Nelson and others to 

 have been no fewer than the bison; 

 here also was the elk in many places only 

 less numerous than these other two; 

 while the mule deer probably out- 

 numbered the white-tailed deer, both 

 species were abundant. It seems almost 

 impossible to exaggerate the numbers 

 of all these animals. Indian traders 

 still living maintain that as late as the 

 middle 70's as many as 700 deer were 

 actually counted by one man in the 

 Osage country in less than a week's 

 time! The carnivores were propor- 

 tionally numerous. The cougar was so 

 common even as late as the early 90's 

 that as many as two or three might be 

 seen in a half day's drive from Norman 

 to Oklahoma City. This is the exact 



spot where a century ago Washington 

 Irving enjoyed the bison hunt familiar 

 to readers of his "Tour of the Prairies." 

 The gray wolf and the coyotes, in the 

 poetic language of the native Indian, 

 "were as the leaves of the forest," 

 while the bob-cat constituted a by no 

 means unimportant element of this 

 fauna. The black bear was fully as 

 common, and none of these species 

 confined themselves to regions where 

 cover was abundant; on the contrary 

 they were as apt to be met with on the 

 treeless plains as in the timber along the 

 streams or in the rocky ravines and 

 among the hills. The smaller carni- 

 vores, including those already mentioned 

 as occurring in other portions of the 

 state, were present here also, but re- 

 inforced by the badger (Taxidea taxus] 

 whose holes punctured every hill-top; 

 by the swift-fox (Vulpes velox), one of 

 the swiftest and most graceful but least 

 cunning of his tribe; and by the black- 

 footed ferret (Mustelanigripes), a blood- 

 thirsty musteline which restricted itself 

 almost wholly to the neighborhood of 

 prairie-dog villages where it could 

 secure an abundant and easy living. 

 Among the rodents, additional forms 

 worth mentioning include the prairie- 

 dog (Cynomys ludovicianus] , just re- 

 ferred to, whose extensive villages or 

 cities often covered miles of country, 

 and the blacktailed jackrabbit (Lepus 

 calif ornicus melanotis) still to be reckoned 

 among the conspicuous and characteristic 

 elements of this particular fauna. The 

 pocket-gopher (Geomys lutescens) and 

 the kangaroo-rat (Dipodomys sp.), the 

 woodrat (Neotoma sp.) and the thirteen- 

 lined ground-squirrel (Citellus tridecem- 

 lineatus ssp.) were other rodents not 

 hitherto noted. Beaver, otter, mink, 

 muskrat, and other fur-bearers were 

 numerous, especially along the streams. 

 The wild turkey, two species of the 

 prairie chicken, and the bob-white 

 occurred in great numbers. Flocks 

 of turkeys numbering fully 3000 each 

 were seen by hunters here as late as 

 1877, and General Sheridan in 1869 one 

 night visited a turkey roost on the north 



