8 THE FAUNA OF. THE PRAIRIES. 
unreclaimed prairies; but in the long-settled parts of the prairie, 
great modifications of the original fauna have already taken place. 
No sooner does the pioneer encroach upon these districts of unri- 
valled agricultural resources than the larger mammalia at once 
and forever disappear. The elk, the buffalo and the beaver are 
the first’ to be exterminated, and soon after them must follow the 
deer and the wolves.* The small rodents perhaps for a time in- 
crease in numbers, especially the ground squirrels and probably the 
field mice, as the farmer’s crops afford them abundant sustenance, 
their great fecundity and reclusive habits further protecting them 
from diminution. The Pouched Gopher, from its remarkable 
subterranean habits, defies all means, except poison, that may be 
used for its extermination. Rarely coming to the surface, and 
only at night, the settler finds it nightly throwing up its little 
hillocks of earth in his garden, and even around his very door, as 
with the boldest impunity it digs its extensive galleries, uprooting 
` the farmer’s favorite plants, and destroying his fruit trees by feed- 
ing in winter upon their roots. The bats, everywhere in our 
country beneficial to the agriculturalist, soon domicile themselves 
in his outbuildings, and rapidly increase in numbers. i ; 
Scarcely less marked changes in the bird fauna likewise occur, 
although few of even the larger species are as yet either wholly ex- 
terminated or even much reduced in numbers, whilst many of the 
smaller kinds have rapidly increased. The artificial groves, the 
orchards and the fields become soon peopled with the half-domes- 
tic species that likewise fre ient cultivated grounds at the East. 
The swallows, no longer restricted to the hollow trees of the lim- 
ited forests for nesting sites, confidingly occupy the numerous 
boxes erected for their use, or take advantage of the shelter 
afforded them by barns and outbuildings. The martin and the 
barn swallow thus soon become numerous, and colonies of the 
cliff swallow, migrating perhaps from distant regions, soon con- 
struct their nests beneath the eaves of barns and of public build- 
ings, and are not only undisturbed but cordially welcomed. The 
poor chimney swifts alone seek in vain for a home, for bricks and 
stone being scarce, the necessary stove-pipe substitute for chim- 
neys, or the various patented devices invented to take the place 
*The Prairie Wolf (Canis latrans) is well known to have been formerly abundant as 
far east as Illinois. (See “N LO as ` 
July, 1861.) ( otes on Ilinois,” in the Ilinois Monthly Magazine for 
