Il8 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



Foxes live very largely upon small rodents. Seton says that 90 per cent 

 of the pellets of the red fox consists of mouse fur. 4 Sheep-killing dogs 

 have been discussed in another chapter, and they are only occasional, 

 but many dogs kill rabbits and other small mammals. Hyaenas kill 

 sheep and small wild mammals. 5 



Bears are not as habitual killers as are the Felidae and Canidae, but 

 they do destroy many wild mammals, as well as livestock. The mon- 

 goose is an active enemy of all the smaller mammals and is a very 

 successful ratter. Some squirrels eat mice and other very small mam- 

 mals. The killer whale not only kills other whales, but is an enemy of 

 seals. The stomach of one from Pribilof Islands contained 18, and an- 

 other 24, young fur seals. 5 * Baboons are said to do a vast amount of 

 havoc among young lambs and kids, not for their flesh, but for the 

 milk they contain, which is obtained by tearing the young animals 

 asunder. 6 During years when mice are abundant in Labrador they form 

 a large part of the food of bears, foxes, wolves, wolverenes and other 

 carnivorous mammals. 7 Innis emphasizes the fact that the supply of 

 certain fur-bearing mammals is affected by the abundance or scarcity 

 of the mice upon which the fur-bearers feed so largely. 8 



The Mustelidae are chiefly carnivorous and the food of many of 

 them consists partly, sometimes largely, of injurious rodents. The 

 badger, for example, lives mostly upon rodents, such as prairie-dogs, 

 ground squirrels, gophers, rats and mice, all of which it is able to 

 easily dig out of their holes. 9 The black-footed ferret of the western 

 plains lives almost entirely upon prairie-dogs and is often called the 

 prairie-dog ferret. 10 Minks eat mice, rats, squirrels, muskrats, chip- 

 munks, rabbits and other mammals, as well as a great variety of other 

 animal life. 11 Weasels are great enemies of ground squirrels and pocket 

 gophers, being able to enter the burrows of these rodents, but also 



4 Seton, Journ. Mammalogy, i, 140, 1920. 



5 Drake-Brockman, The mammals of Somaliland, p. 39, 1910. 



5a Evermann, Scientific Monthly, xv, 310, 1922. Hanna, Journ. Mammalogy, iv, 209- 



220, 1923. 



'Roosevelt, African game trails, pp. 218-219, 1910. Ingersoll, The life of animals, 

 pp. 24-25, 1907. 



7 Cabot, Labrador, 1921. Allen, Journ. Mammalogy, in, 56-57, 1922. 



8 Innis, The fur trade of Canada, pp. 89-91, 1927. 



Bailey, Farmers' Bull, No. 335, 1908; N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 184, 1926; 

 Animal life of Carlsbad Cavern, p. 102, 1928. Birdseye, Farmers' Bull., No. 484, 

 1912. Sawyer, Journ. Mammalogy, vi, 125-126, 1924. Silver, ibid., ix, 63, 1928. 



10 Gary, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 33, p. 184, 1911. Bailey, ibid., No. 49, p. 171, 1926. 



11 Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, 1921. Bailey, ibid., No. 49, p. 173, 1026. Ash- 

 brook, U. S. Biol. Surv. Leaflet No. 8, 1928. 



