1915] 
Cahn: Ecology of Wingra Springs Region 
131 
The Fields 
As for the open fields, except for the nearly flat stretches, on 
either side of the stream, they are gently rolling, grass-covered 
slopes, with an occasional oak or elm or patch of hazel. On 
these slopes may be found the dens of several pair of wood- 
chucks, and there is at least one den located at the edge of' the 
woods wherein a pair of skunks hibernated during the winter 
of 1914-15, though there is no evidence that a family was 
reared. The common garter snake Thamnophis radix is the 
dominant reptile of the fields, as contrasted with the little DeKay 
snake ( Storeria dekayi) of the woods, and is undoubtedly respon- 
sible for the presence of some, if not a good many of the larger 
raptores, as the red-shouldered and marsh-hawks, both of 
which were seen on several occasions to capture snakes of un- 
determined species, though probably the garter variety. 
The Pools 
The two pools, situated in the open fields, are of interest 
because of their influence on bird life, and are responsible for 
the presence within the limit of the formation of several species 
of birds which would otherwise be lacking. They are very 
nearly the same size, and both are temporary bodies of water, 
going entirely dry during the early part of September, though 
the time varies somewhat with the weather. In the early 
spring, however, these pools are as much as twenty inches deep, 
an ample amount of water to furnish breeding places for many 
insects and frogs. 
One point in this connection is of especial interest: similar 
though the pools are in every way, and despite the fact that they 
are less than one hundred feet apart, not a single frog egg was 
laid by Rana pipiens in the second pool, while something over 
two hundred masses laid by his species was taken from the 
first pool, as well as many egg complements of Acris gryllus. 
Eggs taken from the first and put into the second pond hatched 
in good shape and at the same time as the eggs in the first. Life 
as a whole was more abundant in the first pool, and for this reason 
bird life was more abundant here also, It was at this pool 
