1914] Grinnell : Mammals and Birds of th< Colorado Valley 251 



The quail-brash association was the most preferred local habitat, the 

 rabbits finding' ideal refuges there beneath the thickets of Atriplex 

 lentiformis. They ranged all over the bottomlands, and since individ- 

 uals were seen on islands already cut off by rising water from main- 

 land connection, it is probable that many rabbits are washed adrift each 

 year and are carried from side to side of the river. We were assured 

 that cottontails had been seen swimming in the river during flood time. 



We procured twenty-one specimens of the cottontail (nos. 10661- 

 10681), representing the following localities: Arizona side: Mellen, 

 foot of The Needles, five miles northeast of Laguna ; California side: 

 opposite The Needles. Riverside Mountain, Blythe, opposite Cibola, 

 eight miles east of Picacho, five miles northeast of Yuma, near Pilot 

 Knob. A close examination of the comparable specimens from the 

 two sides of the river shows no differences. This is explainable on 

 the ground that to the distribution of this rodent the river forms 

 no permanent hindrance. 



The weight of an adult male (no. 10678) was 24 ounces, of an adult 

 female (no. 10679), 26 ounces; both shot near Mellen. 



Partly grown young were caught March 20 and April 3. A female 

 taken Mav 6 contained two large embryos. 



Felis oregonensis browni Merriam 

 Yuma Cougar 



We were told of the occurrence of cougars at several points along 

 the river from Riverside Mountain south. They appear to range chiefly 

 through the densely wooded bottomlands. One, however, was reported 

 as having been seen in the rough hills constituting Riverside Mountain. 

 In the vicinity of Ehrenberg, Cibola, and Potholes I was given more 

 or less definite accounts of them. At a point on the California side 

 four miles below Potholes, we saw fresh footprints of one within fifty 

 yards of the main river channel. 



From a rancher, J. C. Draper, who lives on the California side, 

 eighteen miles north of Picacho, I purchased two skins with skulls, 

 with the following history. Mountain lions had not been previously 

 seen in his neighborhood for at least ten years. In the autumn of 

 1909 his hogs began to disappear, until eight were gone. Finally the 

 tracks of a lion were found, and then the fresh trail where a 125-pound 

 hog had been dragged a quarter of a mile through the brush. The 

 beast was discovered nearby, treed by a dog, and shot. This was on 



