Mammals of Carolina Bays 25 



in Bladen County from 1974 to 1976 none occurred in swamp forests 

 (Hamilton 1978). Most bays containing dense vegetation, though, were 

 too small to provide adequate cover. Access roads on sand rims and 

 between bays also increased the vulnerability of bears to hunters. 



Procyon lotor lotor (Linnaeus), Raccoon. Raccoon tracks or foraging 

 animals were seen or collected in all communities except white cedar 

 forest, and at all sites studied. At no site were Raccoons particularly 

 common. 



Mustela frenata noveboracensis (Emmons), Long-tailed Weasel. Based 

 on tracks, road-killed specimens, and interviews with trappers, weasels 

 are regular but uncommon inhabitats of pocosin communities. We have 

 reports from savannas (Brunswick County), bay and white cedar forest- 

 ed Carolina bays (Bladen County), and pine-shrub bogs (Dare and 

 Bladen counties). This weasel is probably found in most woodland 

 habitats. 



Mustela vison mink (Peale and Palisot de Beauvois), Mink. We have 

 only one personal record of this animal from the study areas, but Dare 

 County fur trappers informed us that minks are rather common along 

 local drainage canals. Specific sites described to us were in mature ever- 

 green bay and swamp forests. We saw tracks in a dirt road bisecting a 

 wet section of Jerome Bog on the Bladen-Cumberland County line. 



Lutra canadensis lataxina (F. Cuvier), River Otter. This mustelid is 

 relatively common in freshwater canals and estuarine systems bordering 

 pocosins in Dare County, and we have accumulated enough records to 

 assume it occurs in all the Bladen Lakes of Bladen County. Otters were 

 not recorded elsewhere. 



Lynx rufus floridanus (Rafinesque), Bobcat. Although we found Bob- 

 cats or their tracks in only a few habitats, they probably occur occa- 

 sionally in most Coastal Plain habitats. Tracks were seen at nearly all 

 our study areas, and their frequency indicated that Bobcats must be 

 relatively common. Using radio telemetry, Lancia et al. (in press) fol- 

 lowed eight Bobcats for one to five months in the Croatan National 

 Forest, Carteret County. Home range was larger than reported in other 

 studies in the Southeast and varied from 12.37 to 50.35 km 2 , with males 

 having larger ranges. Females avoided pocosins and preferred agricultur- 

 al lands, but otherwise habitat use was in proportion to availability. 

 Lancia (pers. comm.) noted that the animals they studied were asso- 

 ciated with edges of pocosins when these habitats were used, and gener- 

 ally avoided interiors of extensive pocosins. A little-known book by the 

 Hon. Wm. Elliott (1918) contains a chapter on hunting Bobcats in 



