NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 185 



his account of the history of this animal mentions single speci- 

 mens obtained after special enquiries, in Wyoming, Montana, 

 Colorado, and Kansas. Hibbard (1933) speaks of it as of 

 former occurrence in the western part of Kansas, from which 

 probably it is now largely gone. In eastern Colorado it seems 

 to be best known, though as elsewhere it is rare. Cary (1911) 

 mentions that it was reported to Streator in 1894 from three 

 localities in the Arkansas Valley; Lantz heard of a few in 1905 

 about Hugo, where they are known as prairie-dog ferrets, and 

 he had himself heard of it in Baca and Prowers Counties, 

 " where it seems to be more generally known . . . than in 

 other sections on the plains." Southward of Colorado black- 

 footed ferrets "are found over the Staked Plains country of 

 western Texas and undoubtedly occupy the plains region of all 

 eastern and northern New Mexico, but few specimens have 

 been taken" (V. Bailey, 1931) ; a number of specific records are 

 given for this part of the State, to which Bailey (1905) adds a 

 few more from east and south of the Staked Plains of Texas. 

 Although the range may be expected to overlap slightly the 

 borders of southeastern Arizona and the adjacent parts of 

 Mexico, where prairie-dogs occur, specific records are not at 

 hand. 



Nelson (1918) is inclined to attribute to its activities the 

 occasional deserted prairie-dog "towns," which "are not infre- 

 quently observed on the plains with no apparent reason for the 

 absence of the habitants." He mentions one case, however, 

 where a black-footed ferret lived for several days under a 

 wooden sidewalk in the border town of Hays, Kansas, "where 



Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) 



