88 WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIER NATIONAL PAEK. 



They are common over the Phiins along the eastern edge of the 

 Ghxcier Park and apparently extend up in the open tongues of 

 prairie which follow up the valleys. Two specimens collected by 

 Coues in 1877 at Chief Mountain Lake (Waterton Lake) were in or 

 close to the edge of the park, and one collected by Ernest Thompson 

 JSeton on Eagle Creek has been listed as this species. In May, 1895, 

 I collected an adult female on Cut Bank Creek below the park line, 

 and in August, 1917, I found one dead by the trail between Upper 

 and Lower Waterton Lakes. These large weasels are closely asso- 

 ciated with the flickertail, or Eichardson ground squirrel, over much 

 of their range. At Cut Bank Creek I shot one that was running from 

 one burrow to another in pursuit of these squirrels and after some 

 digging found it dead curled up in the nest of the squirrel at the far 

 end of the burrow. Mice and other small rodents probably furnish 

 much of their food, but the ground squirrels and especially the j'oung 

 are easily obtained and apparently relished by the weasels. The 

 weasels are never abundant, however, and the squirrels thrive in spite 

 of the numbers destroyed. Possibly some small game and birds may 

 be killed by them, but as a general thing they may be considered very 

 useful animals. In winter their white skins have some value for fur, 

 but the j-ellow suifusion usualty renders them less valuable than the 

 species with pure white fur. 



Bonaparte Weasel : Mustela cicognanii cicognan'd Bonaparte. — ■ 

 A very small weasel is reported in the Glacier Park which probably 

 is this species, but no specimens are available for actual determina- 

 tion. Donald Stevenson reports them apparently fully adult and in 

 the white winter coats, but only eight inches long, including the black 

 tip of the tail. This could hardly be any other species, unless it can be 

 referred to the still smaller leptus of the southern Rocky jNIountains. 

 Usually these little weasels are less common than the larger species, 

 or else from their small size they more generally escape notice. They 

 range at all altitudes through the mountains and feed mainly upon 

 mice, which they readily follow through the runways and burrows. 

 In summer they are brown above and white below and in winter pure 

 white except the black tip of the tail, but their skins are so small as to 

 be of little value, and perhaps owing to their small size they are not 

 so often caught in steel traps set for larger game. 



Marten: Maries americana catmna (Merriam). — The marten is 

 al)0ut the size of a mink, but with longer, lighter fur and more promi- 

 nent ears, which in the wild state give them a much brighter, more 

 foxlike expression. Their furry coats vary from light yellow to 

 dark brown with lighter or sometimes bright orange throat and bellv. 

 They are probably as common in the park as anywhere in the 

 country, but no animal with the price on its skin that they have 



