46 



G. Mephitis mepnitica. Common Skunk. Abundant. 

 One of the most common of the smaller mammalia. The few speci- 

 mens I had an opportunity of examining presented the usual wide 

 differences of color seen in those from other parts of the country. 



7. XiUtra. Canadensis. American Otter. Occasional along 

 the streams. 



8. Taxidea Americana. Badger. Not frequent. 

 Other species of this family that probably occur here are Putorius 



ermineus, P. pusillus, P. lutreolus and Mephitis bicolor. 



O. Ursiis arctos, var. Americanus. Black Bear. Said 

 to be more or less common along the streams. We observed its 

 tracks in June along the Saline. 



1O. Procyon lotor. Raccoon. Common along the streams, 

 where we frequently observed its tracks. 



^ 11. Bison Americanus. American Bison. "Buffalo." 

 Abundant. 



The great "buffalo country" of the United States is now mainly 

 restricted to Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, between the 

 Arkansas and Platte Rivers, a region extending about two hundred 

 miles in a north and south direction and nearly three hundred miles 

 in an easterly and westerly direction, over much of which territory 

 they still range in countless hordes. They are, however, partially 

 migratory, moving eastward in summer and westward in winter. In 

 the northern part of the state their summer range, in 1871, extended 

 eastward from the western boundary of the state to the vicinity of 

 Fort Harker. In winter their eastern limit scarcely extended east of 

 Ellis, on the Kansas Pacific Railway, while they ranged westward into 

 Eastern Colorado. These movements of the buffalo are evidently in- 

 fluenced by the climate, the prairies of Kansas west of Ellis being 

 rarely long covered by snow, while to the eastward of this point the 

 snow is much more constant, and the country hence much less favor- 

 able for the existence of the buffalo there in winter than it is more to 

 the westward. Every year, however, their range is becoming more cir- 

 cumscribed, owing to the rapid reduction of their numbers by hunters, 

 and, in consequence also of constant persecution, their movements are 



