MAMMALS OF UTAH 93 



guinea pig, with a short, blunt head, broad, rounded ears, 

 short legs, practically no tail and a long, fluffy coat of fur. 

 While most nearly related to the hares and rabbits they 

 have entirely different habits. They live permanently 

 along the high crests of the mountains, mainly above timber 

 line, though sometimes in rock slides among the upper 

 spruces, firs and pines. They live wholly within the shel- 

 ter of rock slides and shelter of shattered rock masses. 

 They are mainly diurnal in habits, and throughout the day 

 may be heard giving their odd little barking or bleating 

 notes, "eh-eh." Their young, usually three or four in num- 

 ber, are born during early summer and are out soon forag- 

 ing for themselves. They are active all winter long, living 

 then on the hay and varieties of small plants that they 

 stored during the summer and autumn. (Nelson.) 



PIKA OR CHIEF HARE 



OCHOTONA UINTA (Hollister) 



Ochotona uinta Hollister, Proc. Bio. Soc. Wash. XXV, p. 58, 

 1912 M. 



Description — Coilor: Upper parts from head to tail 

 uniform clay color, finely lined with darker brown; head 

 darker than back; under parts cream buff; hands and feet 

 yellow buff. Ears dark brown edged with buff and with 

 tuft of buff colored hairs inside. The peculiar color of this 

 new species at once distinguishes it from all other American 

 pikas. The close color resemblance to Ochotona bedfordi of 

 Asia is remarkable. Three specimens from the type local- 

 ity, all in full pelage are at hand. An old, faded, specimen 

 from the Wasatch mountains, Utah, is probably of the 

 same form. (Hollister.) 



Distribution — The type locality of this species is the 

 Uinta mountains. I am informed by N. W. Reynolds that 

 this pika is common at Brighton and in Little Cottonwood 

 canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. Mr. F.A. Wrathall has 

 several skins in his possession, and he informs me that they 

 appear everywhere in the Wasatch where there is slide rock. 



Professor Marcus E. Jones informs me that the pika is 

 found in all the sub-alpine and alpine regions of the Wasatch 

 mountains from Mt. Timpanogas to the northern Utah line. 



Habits — The habits of conies are most interesting. As 

 far as my observation goes, they live entirely in slide rock. 



