﻿MAMMALS OF THE TRES MARIAS ISLANDS. 



17 



Cleofa. They were very numerous about a deserted ranch on the north 

 side of Maria Magdalena, but were rather scarce elsewhere on that 

 island. We found them extraordinarily abundant and surprisingly 

 tame about old fields on an abandoned ranch at the northern end of 

 Maria Madre. Some Avere killed with stones near camp, and it would 

 have been easy to kill over a hundred in a morning. They would sit 

 in their forms among the bushes while one peered at them from a dis- 

 tance of a few feet, and when driven out into au open space they often 

 sat quietly while the camera was brought up and focussed within a 

 short distance. The old fields at this ranch had been long abandoned 

 and were covered with a scattered growth of bushes, which seemed 

 more suitable for the rabbits than the forested areas, where they 

 occurred much more sparingly. The cottontails frequented the wood 

 roads leading from the shore up over the forested slopes, and after 3 

 o'clock in the afternoon could be found sitting quietly in little open 

 places in the undergrowth waiting for the nearer approach of sunset 

 before coming out into the roads. 



The skin of these rabbits was surprisingly delicate, and it was 

 difficult to skin them without tearing it in many places. It was found 

 almost impossible to carry a specimen by the hind legs even a short 

 distance without having the skin tear and slip where it had been 

 grasped by the hand. 



It is strange tbat the rabbits are not more abundant on the islands, 

 considering the fact that the raccoon is the only predatory mammal, 

 and that the few red-tailed hawks and caracaras are the only birds 

 that prey upon them. 



Procyon lotor insularis Merriam. Tres Marias Raccoon. 



Procyon lotor insularis Merriam. Proc. BioL Soc. Washington, XII, p. 17, Jan- 

 uary 27, 1898. 



The raccoon was rather common on Maria Madre and Maria Magda- 

 lena, but no sigus of them were seen on Maria Cleofa, where, however, 

 they may occur. In May they were feeding on wild figs and other 

 fruits and on the crabs, which were very abundant near the shore. 

 Every morning freshly made raccoon tracks were seen in trails leading 

 from the seashore to higher parts of the islands, but the animals 

 usually passed our traps without paying the slightest attention to the 

 bait. They were semi-diurnal in habits and several were seen in 

 the woods in broad daylight. One afternoon one was seen crossing 

 the bed of a dry wash near the northern end of Maria Madre, and 

 instead of trying to escape through the woods it climbed a wild- fig 

 tree on the bank and stood looking down from a horizontal branch 

 until shot. 



Zalophus californianus (Lesson). Sea Lion. 



A large seal or sea lion, called ' lobo marino ' or sea wolf by the Mexi- 

 can s, was reported to occur at several places on the rocky shores of 

 Maria Magdalena and Maria Cleofa. We first heard of them before 

 13950_No. 14 2 



