RELATIONS OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS 121 



particularly water and shore-birds and other birds that nest near the 

 water. 6 The ring-tailed cat (Bassariscus) also feeds upon birds to some 

 extent. 7 Raccoons and opossums not only prey partly upon wild birds, 

 but also raid the poultry yards. 8 The Indian mongoose, in some regions 

 to which it has been imported, has wrought great damage to ground- 

 nesting wild birds and poultry. 9 



Skunks eat some wild birds and their eggs and occasionally poultry, 

 though their food is chiefly insects and partly rodents. 10 Of 353 

 stomachs examined under the direction of Dixon, only 27 contained 

 bird remains. 11 Lantz says that of 62 stomachs only one contained bird 

 remains, consisting of a few feathers. 12 Minks and weasels kill some 

 wild birds and rob their nests and are very destructive to poultry when 

 they have a chance, killing more than they can possibly use, but in other 

 ways probably do more good than harm. The mink is particularly in- 

 jurious to ducks and marsh birds. 13 Though the land otter lives chiefly 

 on fish, one stomach contained the head of a mallard. 14 The fisher some- 

 times kills wild birds. 15 The badger occasionally takes poultry 16 and one 

 was detected digging into bank swallows' nests. 17 There are reports of 

 bears searching lake shores for wild ducks' eggs, 18 climbing trees for 

 hawks' eggs 19 and gnawing into a woodpecker's nest. 20 Oriental bats of 

 the genus Megadermus feed largely on small birds. 21 



Flying squirrel as a bird killer, Journ. Mammalogy, I, 95-96, 1919. Klugh, Ecology 

 of the red squirrel, ibid., vm, 1-32, 1927. Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, pp. 46-55, 

 1926; Journ. Mammalogy, iv, 129, 1923. There are very numerous other references 

 on this subject. Warren, Mammals of Colorado, p. 168, 1910. Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, 

 No. 52, pp. 9-i i, 1929. 



" Johnson, The muskrat : Its natural history and economics, Roosevelt Wild Life 

 Bull., in, 205-320, 1925. 



7 Bailey, Animal life of Carlsbad Cavern, p. 105, 1928. 



8 Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, pp. 18, 35, 1921. Bailey, ibid., No. 49, p. 187, 

 1926. Hahn, 33rd Ann. Kept. Indiana Dept. Geol and Nat. Resources, p. 451, 1909. 



9 Wetmore, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. No. 326, pp. 38, 67, etc., 1916. Palmer, Year- 

 book, U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1898, pp. 87-100. Amer. Naturalist, xvn, 299, 1883. 

 Morris, The mongoose on sugar estates in the West Indies, 1883. 



10 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 181, 1926. 



11 Dixon, Journ. Mammalogy, vi, 34-46, 1925. 



12 Lantz, Farmers' Bull., No. 587, 1914. 



M Bailey, Farmers' Bull., No. 335, p. 30, 1908 ; N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 173, 

 1926. Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, pp. 35, 37, 1921. Fisher, Yearbook U. S. Dept. 

 Agric. for 1908, p. 190. Ashbrook, U. S. Biol. Surv. Leaflet No. 8, 1928. 



"Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 5, p. 82, 1891. 



"Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 177, 1926. 



18 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 184, 1926 ; Farmers' Bull., No. 335, p. 29, 

 1908. 



17 Potter, Badger digs for bank swallows, The Condor, xxvi, 191, 1924. 



18 Rowen, Bears and birds' eggs, The Condor, xxx, 246, 1928. 

 "Taverner, Bears and hawks, The Condor, xxx, 157, 1928. 



* Dixon, Black bear tries to gnaw into a woodpecker's nest, The Condor, xxix, 

 271-272, 1927. 



21 Poulton, Proc. Zool. Soc. London for 1929, p. 300. 



