FIG. 38. NEST OF gale's WOOD-RAT, Neotoma fallax 
Under sandstone ledge. E. R. Warren, Photo. 
Neotoma desertorum (Lat. desertus, a desert). Desert 
Wood-Rat. 
Neotoma desertorum Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., ix., p. 125 
(1894). 
Type locality. — Furnace Creek, Death Valley, Cahfornia (T. S. 
Palmer). 
Measurements. — (From specimen described below): Total length, 
11.25 ; tail vert., 4.8; hind foot, 1.25. 
Description. — (From a specimen loaned by Biological Survey, 
and taken 5 miles west of Rangeley, Rio Blanco Co., Sept. 15, 1906, 
No. 148012): Above buffy ochraceous, lined with black on back, 
and grayer on head ; basal half of upper side of tail like back, rest 
of tail grayish black. Feet and under parts white. Easily dis- 
tinguished from any of the other wood-rats in Colorado by its much 
smaller size and paler colors. 
Distribution. — The Desert Wood-rat has been found in California, 
Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. In the latter State it has thus far 
been reported from but one locality, the lower White River Valley, 
about five miles west of Rangeley, Rio Blanco County, where it 
