1910] FOREST, GAME AND FISH WARDEN. 79 



migrate even as far as the Cumberland mountains from, for instance, such a 

 region as the Cheat mountains, in search of it. It is an animal which loves 

 to frequent dense thickets, but unless those thickets are in proximity to an 

 abundance of favorite food it is useless to look for them there. Till quite 

 recently I was under the impression they were actually increasing in numbers, 

 or at least holding their own, but this season and last I have been compelled 

 to modify my opinion somewhat. While they are destructive to sheep and 

 hogs to a limited extent I believe the damage actually done is over estimated. 



An animal closely related to the bear is the raccoon, a great favorite with 

 those sportsmen who enjoy night hunting with properly trained dogs. This 

 animal actually increases with the settling up of the country and is found 

 in close proximity to even our larger towns. Those found in the black spruce 

 belt are very large and some of them nearly black, yet I saw one taken in that 

 region a few years ago which was a pale straw color, a form of albinism. 

 ' Another favorite with sportsmen of nocturnal proclivities is that famed 

 southern animal the 'possum, which, in West Virginia is found in the mount- 

 ains up to an altitude of 3,000 feet, but very seldom, if ever beyond. 



Of the rabbits (or more properly hares) this state is blessed with three 

 forms, the rarest being the big white fellow restricted to the Canadian zone 

 in the black spruce belt above ^4,000 feet altitude. It is^as gray as its smaller 

 kin in the summer season. With the destruction of our spruce forests it is 

 gradually becoming extinct and will be replaced in the' course of time by the 

 little northern cottontail. The large southern cottontail rabbit is found every- 

 where over the western and northwestern half of the state and occurs with 

 the smaller and darker northern form on the mountains about White Sulphur 

 Springs and beyond, the two forms however frequenting different surroundings. 

 The greatest enemy of the cottontails is the fox, and the gray fox on the 

 mountains near White Sulphur have almost exterminated them. Thousands 

 of young rabbits are destroyed every spring by forest fires occuring at that 

 season, but later on fires do comparatively little damage to the adults. 



Of the squirrels the most desirable, and at the same time the rarest form, 

 is the big handsome fox squirrel. The form inhabiting this region is re- 

 stricted at the present day to the oak groves of the eastern counties from about 

 Greenbrier northward and is found nowhere else, except in Dauphin and Cum- 

 berland counties, Pennsylvania. It should be protected by the game laws of 

 the state for an indefinite period. The most common squirrel, however, is the 

 southern gray squirrel occurring over a greater portion of the state, but the 

 herds of squirrels which, at regular intervals, migrate here, are mostly of the 

 northern form. Of these migratory thousands a certain number are coal black 

 (melanistic), but I have never observed this dark phase among specimens of 

 the southern form. Squirrels do not migrate great distances, but apparently 

 overflow from one region into another in search of food, made necessary by 

 the failure of the nut crop in their home woods, and those which escape the 

 ceaseless slaughter of countless hunters are apt to return the following season 

 to the region from whence they came. 



The woodchuck, or ground hog, is probably more common in the limestone 

 region of the state than elsewhere, and is hunted to a considerable extent, af- 

 fording as it does most excellent rifle practice. With the exception of the 

 beaver and porcupine it is' our regular rodent. 



