MAMMALS OI THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 367 



tion, however, is one of the most difficult 

 duties intrusted to the park management. 

 'I hey are now quite valuable and very easy 

 to trap, and their skins are easily disposed 

 of. The professional heaver trapper leaves 

 almost no sign of his work, and it is very 

 hard to catch him at it." — Lieut. Lindsley. 



10. Mountain Deermouse (Perotnyscus 

 tcxanus arcticus Mearns). This is the com- 

 mon house mouse of the region. It is very 

 abundant, frequenting every stable and 

 shack as well as the hotels, and its shad- 

 owy form is familiar to every camper, in the 

 evening when the fire burns low and the 

 camp is settling for sleep. The identity of 

 the species was established by Prof. Elliot. 



11. Wood Rat or Pack Rat (Neotoma 

 cinerea Ord.). Said to occur in the Park. 

 " Have seen several; one was trapped in 

 my stable at Mammoth Hot Springs, where 

 it had done much damage among the 

 harness and equipments." G. S. A. 



12. Long-tailed Mole (Microtus mordax 

 Merriam). Common 



13. Muskrat (Fiber zibethicus pallidas 

 Mearns). Common in suitable waters 

 throughout the Park. In a sense parasitic 

 on the beaver and much disliked by it. 

 They frequently nest, I am told, in the walls 

 of the beavers' houses and are said to merit 

 their big cousins' enmity by the damage 

 they do to the dams into which they bur- 

 row, with a view to a safe subaqueous re- 

 treat, but with the result that they simply 

 let the water out. 



14. Mole-gopher (Thomomys fuscus Mer- 

 riam). A species of pocket mouse or 

 mole-gopher was abundant everywhere. 

 Its upheavals were plentiful alike on the 

 river bottoms and on the highest peaks; 

 even on the top of Mt. Sepulchre 9,400 feet, 

 its mounds were numerous. Of course, 

 none were taken. It is doubtless the above. 



15. Yellow Porcupine (Erethizon ex- 

 pixanthus Brandt). Said to be quite com- 

 mon throughout the Park. In the thick 

 pine wood region of the continental divide 

 — numberless trees are to be seen girdled at 

 a height of 6 or 8 feet. This in many cases 

 shows the level of the deep snow. " Plen- 

 tiful. Trees killed by the thousands, by 

 girdling; but the porcupine does not quit 

 at snow level; where there are limbs to 

 rest upon. Have seen plenty of girdling 40 

 to 60 feet from ground." G. S. A. 



16. Coney, Rockrabbit, Little Chief Hare 

 or Pika (Lagomys princeps Rich.). Said to 

 be common in one or 2 localities where 

 slide rock occurs in great quantities. I saw 

 but 3. They were at Silver Cascades, but it 

 is said to be found also about Golden Gate. 

 " Plenty everywhere in slide rock. Have 

 seen them in 50 places in the Park, and had 

 one in captivity for a day, caught on the 

 roadside half way to Norris. It allowed a 

 young man to walk up and put his hand on 

 it. It died about 24 hours after capture." 

 G. S. A. 



17. Cottontail ( Lcpus baileyi Merriam). 

 I found cottontails abundant among the 

 sage about Gardiner village and up toward 

 Mammoth Not Springs, but did not 

 them elsewhere in the Park. At Billings, 

 Mont., I collected 2. These Prof. Elliot 

 calls baileyi, therefore, I assume this may be 

 the Park form. " Plenty in many open 

 parts of the Park, but generally on the 

 lower levels." G. S. A. 



j 8. White-tailed Jack-rabbit (Lepus cam- 

 pestris Bach.). This large hare is quite 

 common about Gardiner which is at the 

 entrance of the Park, and though I never 

 saw one actually within the limits, it is rea- 

 sonable to suppose that it does enter, for 

 the sage brush flats it frequents about the 

 town, extend for some miles into the Park 

 itself. " Plenty near Mammoth Hot 

 Springs in such places as Swan Lake flat." 

 G. S. A. 



19. Snow-shoe Rabbit (f^epus bairdii 

 Hayden). According to the residents this 

 animal is common throughout the wooded 

 parts of the Park — the only one I saw in 

 the country was outside the Park on the 

 North. " Have seen many all over the 

 Park, and the wooded parts are all tracked 

 up by them as soon as snow falls." G. S. A. 



20. Moose (Alces americanns JardineJ. 

 Said to be common in the Southern parts 

 of the Park. One old guide estimated the 

 total number of moose in the Park at 300. 

 I should imagine this was excessive, but 

 there were other hunters who gave simi- 

 lar testimony. It is commonly believed 

 the moose are rapidly increasing in num- 

 bers. " I doubt if there are 300, but I have 

 seen signs of a good many and saw one 

 near Snake River Station." G. S. A. 



" Moose are becoming quite numerous 

 in the South part of the Park, and particu- 

 larly in the Southern forest reserve, where 

 I believe there are more moose than in all 

 the rest of the park. There are rumors of 

 a band between Mammoth Hot Springs 

 and Grand Canyon, but this rumor will not 

 be verified before snow falls. I most ear- 

 nestly recommend that Congress be urged 

 to include the forest reserve in the Park. 

 This reserve is now under charge of the 

 Park management, with orders to protect 

 the game therein. The only practical 

 change which would take place in the 

 status of this strip, were it included in the 

 Park proper, is mat the law of May 7, 1894, 

 would then apply to it, and poachers could 

 be prosecuted and punished by law, where- 

 as now it is only under executive orders." 

 Lieut. Lindsley. 



Caribou. I could not learn that the 

 caribou ever came as far South and East 

 as the Yellowstone. " I don't believe there 

 ever w r ere caribou in the Park." G. S. A. 



21. Elk (Ccrz'iis canadensis Erxleben) 

 The most conservative estimate of the elk 

 in the Park puts them at 30,000. They are 

 undoubtedly increasing; and, as in the au- 



