20 Mary K. Clark, David S. Lee, John B. Funderburg, Jr. 



by us in an abandoned hotel on this lake, one (NCSM 4018) was from 

 an abandoned building at Lake Waccamaw, and another was found on 

 a building at Singletary Lake State Park (NCSM records). The Dismal 

 Swamp, where Handley (1959) reported Plecotus collected from hollow 

 cypress trees in Lake Drummond, is the northernmost locality for this 

 species on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. We have a specimen (NCSM 

 3938) from the southeastern edge of the Dismal Swamp, Gates County, 

 and recent records from Dare County. Unpublished studies by Lee and 

 Clark show that on the Coastal Plain this bat is restricted to river 

 swamps and bay lakes bordered by mature swamp forests. 



Lagomorpha: Rabbits 

 Sylvilagus palustris palustris (Bachman), Marsh Rabbit. The Marsh 

 Rabbit is common in nearly all stages of pocosins, although it is most 

 abundant in ecotonal areas adjacent to clearings, roads, canals, and lake 

 edges. At Bay Tree Lake, Bladen County, we found it to be sympatric 

 with Sylvilagus floridanus in a low Pond Pine-shrub pocosin adjacent to 

 the lake. Bill Adams (pers. comm.) reported this same situation in a 

 pocosin in Brunswick County. 



Sylvilagus floridanus (Allen), Eastern Cottontail. This rabbit is char- 

 acteristic of but not common on sand rims, and is rare to absent in most 

 pocosin and Carolina bay areas. We did not encounter a single rabbit of 

 this species on the Dare County mainland except around residential 

 areas. So many other races of this rabbit have been stocked in eastern 

 North Carolina that subspecific recognition of the original native form, 

 Sylvilagus/. mallurus, probably has little meaning. 



Rodentia: Rodents 

 Sciurus carolinensis carolinensis (Gmelin), Gray Squirrel. The Gray 

 Squirrel is. common in many stream-head forests, pocosins with mature 

 trees, and bay and swamp forests. It is particularly common in areas 

 dominated by mature Pond Pine where it forages extensively on cones. 

 It is recorded from most mature habitats, both natural and disturbed, 

 and is occasionally seen crossing sand rims, but is apparently absent 

 from savannas. In Dare County we found extensive Gray Squirrel use 

 of habitats containing mature Pond Pine. These trees retain their seeds 

 for long periods, and fire is a major triggering mechanism for seed 

 release. Thus, mature cones are available throughout the year and 

 represent a major, and perhaps in some areas exclusive, food source. 



Sciurus niger niger (Linnaeus), Fox Squirrel. This species is not usu- 

 ally regarded as a pocosin associate. The sand rims of Carolina bays, 

 however, provide the open, fire-maintained pine forests that Fox Squir- 

 rels prefer and here they are often common. They do forage in stream- 



