NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



551 



eastern Nebraska, the Dakotas and 

 Manitoba to the foothills of the Rockies. 

 Western South Dakota is rather cen- 

 trally located in this vast, rather uni- 

 form region, and the following account 

 is serviceable for considerable peripheral 

 areas. 



Conspicuous animals of the short grass 

 formation of South Dakota 9 



Birds. Among the birds 5 the only 

 permanent resident represented by many 

 individuals is the desert horned lark. 9 

 Longspurs of some species are found in 

 all seasons, the chestnut-collared and 

 McCown's longspurs nesting here abun- 

 dantly and the Lapland longspur winter- 

 ing. Two other members of the sparrow 

 family, the lark bunting and the western 

 vesper sparrow are very numerous; the 

 former is quite characteristic, as is also 

 the desert horned lark. Other prom- 

 inent nesting birds are the Brewer 

 blackbird, burrowing owl, Sennett's 

 nighthawk and upland plover. For- 

 merly the long-billed curlew and the 

 prairie sharp-tailed grouse were com- 

 mon. Several kinds of birds nest in 

 the groves of scattered trees along the 

 streams (considered here under wood- 

 land), but often feed along the steppe 

 far from their nests. Examples are: 

 the ferruginous rough-legged Swainson's 

 and sparrow hawks. The cliff and barn 

 swallows, nesting on cliffs or about 

 buildings, are also seen often. 



Mammals. No conspicuous species 

 appears to be confined in its range to 

 the steppe of South Dakota, though 

 several varieties are. Of these the 

 plains coyote (Canis nebracensis), 

 pocket-gopher (Geomys bursarius and 



8 Based on "The Biogeography," Chapt. vi, pp. 

 80-108, of "The Geography of South Dakota," Bull. 

 8. S.D. Geol. Surv., Vermillion, S.D. 1918. See also 

 The Biography of the Northern Great Plains, Geogr. 

 Rev., vol. 11, pp. 89-115, August, 1916, The Geogra- 

 phy, Geology and Biology of south-central South 

 Dakota, Bull. 5, 1912, and The Biology of Harding 

 County, southwestern South Dakota, Bull 6, cf. 

 the South Dakota Geol. Surv., 1914. 



Scientific names are given in the papers men- 

 tioned in the preceding footnote, where plants and 

 environmental conditions are also discussed. 



Thomomys spp.), and certain mice and 

 voles may be mentioned. Other mam- 

 mals abundantly represented on the 

 steppe are the prairie-dog (Cynomys 

 ludovicianus), badger (Taxidea taxus), 

 jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii cam- 

 panius}, striped and spotted skunks 

 (Mephitis hudsonica and Spilogale inter- 

 rupta), gray wolf (Canis occidentalis) , 

 kit-fox (Vulpes velox), long-tailed weasel 

 (Mustela longicauda), striped ground 

 squirrel (Citellus tridecem lineatus 

 subsp.), and formerly the antelope 

 (Anlilocapra americana) and bison 

 (Bison bison}. 



Other animals. The most common 

 snake is the plain bull-snake (Pituophis 

 sayi}j with the plains blue racer (Coluber 

 constrictor flaviventris) next and the 

 prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus confluentus) 

 third in most places and seasons. The 

 horned-lizard (Phrynosoma) is numerous 

 in many localities. The common toad 

 (Bufo woodhousii) is seen frequently. 

 The Great Plains toad (Bufo cognatus) 

 is characteristic but not abundant. 



Invertebrates aside from the insects 

 are unimportant in this group of asso- 

 ciations. It appears that only three of 

 the numerous phyla are represented, 

 the protozoa relatively sparsely, mol- 

 lusca chiefly by only one species of land 

 snail (Succinea grosvenorii) and the 

 arthropoda by a few spiders and centi- 

 pedes, and by numerous insects of six 

 of the eight orders: Orthoptera (grass- 

 hoppers and locusts), Diptera (gnats, 

 mosquitoes, flies), Lepidoptera (butter- 

 flies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles) 

 and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants 

 Ichneumons) and Hemiptera (bugs). 

 The locusts and grasshoppers are the 

 most conspicuous insects and most 

 injurious. 



The Hymenoptera of several families 

 (digger wasps, ants, wooly bees) are 

 abundant. Blow flies, bot flies (Gastro- 

 philus equi) and robber flies are plentiful. 

 Lepidoptera are few upon the steppe. 

 The beetles are mostly ground beetles. 

 Bugs are very rare upon the steppe. 



