12 BULLETIN 1U, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The mammals of this region are the characteristic species of the 

 Great Plains. On the upland there are numerous coyotes, thirteen- 

 lined ground squirrels, Kennicott ground squirrels, white-tailed 

 jack rabbits, prairie dogs, badgers, pocket gophers, and long-tailed 

 skunks. About some of the rivers and lakes there are still beavers 

 and a good many minks and raccoons, while apparently the most 

 abundant mammal of the lakes is the muskrat, for its houses are to 

 be seen on almost every permanent body of water. The American 

 antelope, which formerly was abundant in this region, is now rare, 

 though occasionally seen. 



The birds of the sandhill region, other than the waterfowl which 

 will be separately and specially treated in the present bulletin, 

 though not of a great many species, are yet fairly numerous. Among 

 the land birds the most conspicuous inhabitants of the reeds and 

 rushes in the marshes about the lakes are the red-winged and yellow- 

 headed blackbirds, while an occasional long-billed marsh wren chat- 

 ters away from his hiding place among the rank vegetation. In 

 the thickets bordering the lakes and some of the streams the Bell 

 vireo, yellow warbler, and Maryland yellowthroat are to be found. 

 The eastern meadowlark is unusually abundant in most of the valley 

 meadows, while the western meadowlark is equally numerous on the 

 higher lands, though both often occur on the same ground. The 

 eastern meadowlark was traced as far west as Phalarope Lake, in 

 northwestern Garden County, where several individuals were seen 

 and heard on June 22, 1915; and the Hague' Lakes, just south of 

 Hush Lake, in northeastern Morrill County, where it was noted as 

 common on June 21. The melodious song of the bobolink may be 

 heard throughout the summer in many of the meadows. Prairie chick- 

 ens and sharp-tailed grouse are common almost everywhere, both in 

 the sandhills and in the grassy valleys ; but the bob-white is every- 

 where rare. The kingbird and the barn swallow are found about 

 almost all the rather scattered ranches of the region, while the orchard 

 oriole and warbling vireo inhabit less regularly the trees and groves 

 in the same places. The grassy sandhills are almost everywhere 

 inhabited commonly by the vesper and grasshopper sparrows, while 

 the lark bunting, conspicuous by its black and white plumage and 

 marvelous mockingbird-like song, may be seen all over the plains and 

 sandhills. Other common birds of general distribution are the 

 mourning dove, the nighthawk, the horned lark, and the cowbird, 

 and in almost every prairie-dog town the curious-mannered burrow- 

 ing owl. 



LAKES OF EASTERN CHERRY COUNTY. 



In the central eastern portion of Cherry County lies a group of 

 about 65 lakes covering an area about 35 miles square. In the middle 

 where the lakes are closest together they are in some cases only a 



