MAMMALS OF UTAH 7 



Most of the mice of the genus Onychomys eat seeds and 

 grass only when hungry and their customary bill of fare 

 Includes such a wide variety Of insects that they well de- 

 serve the name "grasshopper mice." The field mice (Pero- 

 myscus) include nuts, seeds and berries as well as a few 

 insects in their fare, being not especially destructive; but 

 the harvest mice are distinctly harmful. 



The wood rats (Neotoma) make vast stores of grass, 

 fruit, bulbs, bark, seeds, nuts and fungi; but being mostly 

 in rocky mountainous regions they in the aggregate do little 

 appreciable damage, though instances are not wanting of 

 their having girdled shrubs or stolen stored grain. 



The various voles of the genus Microtus, feeding on 

 grass, bark, seeds, grain and some insects, are very destruc- 

 tive when numerous. In these days it is incomprehensible 

 that an apparently intelligent farmer will one day curse 

 the mice and the ground squirrels for their depredations 

 upon him, and the next shoot every hawk, badger, and 

 snake he comes upon. 



The vegetable matter that muskrats take is of no 

 consequence, and their burrows seldom interfere with irri- 

 gation. Appreciating the value of their pelts, some far- 

 seeing men of Utah will soon engage in "muskrat farming," 

 which in the East is a profitable employment. 



Nothing can be said in favor of the pocket gophers, 

 whose burrows are the constant torment of a region that 

 exists by reason of irrigation. The kangaroo rats (Perodi- 

 pus) nibble the young sprouts of growing grain, and conse- 

 quently are a nuisance. 



Porcupines subsist on the bark of such trees as the 

 aspen, jackpine, and hemlock, for which habit they deserve 

 no censure ; similarly the pikas or chief hares are far up in 

 the mountains away from man. 



Cottontails live on. the tid bits of mountain vegetation, 

 being valuable food for man; and jack rabbits while un- 

 doubtedly destructive should so far as practicable be killed 

 for their fur and for food rather than poisoned. 



Of the Felidae, mountain lions, ruthlessly killing deer, 

 colts, calves and sheep, should everywhere be destroyed; 

 and though the lynx and wild cats devour some prairie dogs 

 and other rodents, they steal many lambs and are therefore 

 harmful. 



Wolves kill so many calves, and coyotes so many sheep 

 that their extermination is a desideratum, though there is 

 a noticeable increase of rabbits, rats and mice whenever 

 coyotes are systematically hunted. In fact, the presence of 

 coyotes is encouraged by the horticulturists of California. 



