HOFFMEISTER & MOHR: ILLINOIS MAMMALS 35 



ways or nests or in feeding. Beavers, in their feeding, leave 



marks of their teeth on branches, fig. 28r, and, in their home 

 building, fell and cut up trees, even large ones. 



Food Signs. — Food caches, partially eaten food, certain un- 

 palatable objects, and discarded fragments of food items maj 

 furnish clues to the mammals associated with them. Food frai: 

 ments may he either animal remains or plant remains. 



Animal Remains. — Wings of flies and moths on the floor of a 

 building or cave, or within a hollow tree, are excellent signs of 

 hats. Insect remains mixed with snail shells in a ground nest 

 usually mean the presence of shrews. A shallow hole with frag- 

 ments of turtle eggs scattered about usually means that a skunk 

 or a raccoon has had a feast there. Bird feathers around a hole 

 in a hank suggest the presence of a mink or weasel, and bird 

 feathers and rabbit remains around a large hole in an upland 

 situation indicate the presence of a fox or coyote. 



/ egetable Remains. — Bundles of cut grasses on the open 

 ground, each section 2 to 3 inches long, indicate that a jumping 

 mouse lives nearby. If the sections are shorter, fig. 30, and in a 

 runway, they suggest the work of voles, or their relatives the 

 bog lemmings or pine mice. In a rock crevice, a cache of nuts 

 and seeds with such inedible objects as paper and corncobs hints 

 of the presence of a wood rat; in or near human habitations, 

 these signs suggest the activity of a Norway rat or a house 

 mouse. Platforms, fig. 38, of freshly cut grass, cattails, or 

 rushes in shallow water indicate the feeding site of a rice rat or 

 a muskrat. A cache of nuts and seeds in a rock crevice ma\ 

 belong to a chipmunk or white-footed mouse; the same type of 

 sign, with possibly an ear of corn in addition, in a hollow tree 

 or building suggests food of squirrels; and a pile of nuts and 

 seeds in a ground nest probably belongs to a deer mouse. A 

 similar nest containing roots might he that of a meadow vole. 

 In an orchard, a runway leading up to a gnawed apple on the 

 ground indicates the work of a pine mouse. The combination ot 

 cut-down trees, sectioned twigs, and wide tooth marks in hark 

 can mean only the work of a beaver. 



SYNOPSIS OF ILLINOIS MAMMALS 



This section of the l - ieldbook furnishes the hiker ami nat- 

 uralist with a concise account of the native and naturalized 



