VOL. XXXIII, No. 5 WASHINGTON 



May. 1918 



THE 



ATONAL 

 GEOGEAPMD 

 AGAZI 



SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



By Edward W. Nelson 



Chief, U. S. Biological Survey 



With illustrations in color from paintings by Louis Agassis Fuertes 



This series of animal biographies and natural-color portraits is a counterpart 

 of the series dealing with the Larger North American Mammals, published in the 

 November, ipi6, National Geographic Magazine. Together they describe and 

 illustrate the most interesting and characteristic types of North America's mam- 

 mal life. The author of these intimate insights into animal nature, Mr. B. W. 

 Nelson, for forty years the friend and student of the people of the wild, brings 

 to Geographic readers a refreshing picture of their habits, their traits, and their 

 environment. He has studied them from northernmost Alaska to southernmost 

 Mexico. The paintings are by Mr. Louis Agassis Fuertes, whose work is always 

 received with enthusiasm by Geographic readers everywhere, and the illustra- 

 tions of the animal tracks by our foremost American authority, Ernest Thompson 

 Seton. 



IN THAT part of North America 

 lying north of Mexico more than 

 1,300 species and geographic races 

 of mammals are known to exist. Of 

 these by far the greater number, both of 

 species and individuals, fall into the class 

 of smaller mammals. 



Some of the most characteristic types 

 which appear to have originated in North 

 America are the mountain - beavers, 

 pocket-gophers, kangaroo-rats, pocket- 

 mice, wood - rats, white - footed mice, 

 muskrats, skunks, and ring-tailed cats. 



In Siberia and Europe live close coun- 

 terparts of our northern weasels, minks, 

 martens, field - mice, lemmings, north- 

 ern hares, conies, marmots, moles, and 

 others ; and on our southern border the 

 armadillo and the hog-nosed skunk intro- 

 duce a faint tinge of a strange fauna 

 from South America. 



furry friends and enemies 



The muskrats, minks, martens, and 

 skunks for many years have yielded an 

 enormous annual return from their furs ; 

 the squirrels and rabbits afford sport and 

 a large supply of excellent flesh for food ; 

 the prairie-dogs and some of the ground- 

 squirrels existing in enormous numbers 

 have been excessively destructive to 

 crops ; and others, like the porcupine and 

 the armadillo, have attracted particular 

 attention because of their strange char- 

 acteristics'. 



The smaller mammals live everywhere, 

 from the tropical end of Florida to the 

 uttermost lands of the frozen North, and 

 from the seashore to the limit of vegeta- 

 tion on the high mountains. The heav- 

 iest forests, open meadows, rugged moun- 

 tain slopes, arctic barrens, and sun- 

 scorched desert plains all have their small 



