198 
FOURTEENTH REPORT. 
A COLLECTION OF MAMMALS FROM OSCEOLA COUNTY, 
MICHIGAN . 1 
BY ORRIN J. WENZEL. 
This paper is the result of field work carried on during the summer and 
autumn of 1911 for the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey, supple- 
mented by observations made by the author during several years residence 
in Osceola County. 
The region consists principally of sandy moraines which thirty or forty 
years ago were covered with pine. Scattered about thruout this sandy 
region are small areas of heavy clay, varying from less than a town- 
ship in length to tracts large enough to extend nearly across the county. 
Such areas were originally covered with hardwood and are now either 
cultivated or are still occupied by hardwood or hardwood slashings. There 
are many lakes varying in size from one or two acres to one or two thousand. 
Those in the typical pine land usually have sandy shores, while those in 
the hardwood areas are surrounded by bogs. 
In the course of the work, the varied conditions observed were classified 
into general habitats, and the habitats were then studied with reference to 
the mammals inhabiting them. The collecting of specimens was not given 
most attention, only a sufficient number being taken to insure proper 
identification of the species, but considerable attention was paid to the 
habits and the present status of each species, i. e., abundance and whether 
increasing or decreasing in numbers. 
The specimens taken are preserved in the University of Michigan Museum, 
and the numbers in the list of species are those which have been given 
to them in the museum catalog. Where no specimens were taken, the 
writer has taken considerable care that the reports are reliable. This 
paper does not then purport to be a complete list of the mammals of the 
region, but an accurate and reliable record of most of them. It is hoped 
that students of the general fauna of the state and all others interested 
in mammals may find this paper of assistance and interest. 
I am indebted to Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven for helpful suggestions and 
criticisms in the planning of the field work and in the preparation of this 
report, and to Mr. Norman A. Wood for help in the identification of some of 
the more difficult species. I wish also to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
William Allen and his son James Allen, of LeRoy, for the loan of the latter’s 
mounted specimens of badger, raccoon and woodchuck, the photographs 
of which appear in this report. The men who have contributed valuable 
information are Wm. Allen, Bert Byam, Aclelbert Roberts and A. C. Stieg. 
DESCRIPTION OF HABITATS. 
All existing conditions found in the region were grouped for convenience 
into seven major habitats as follows: Pinery or Pine Slashings, Hardwood 
Forest, Farm-land, Tamarack and Cedar Swamps, Sphagnum Bogs, Lake 
•Published by permission of Alexander G. Ruthven, Chief Field Naturalist, Michigan Geological 
and Biological Survey. 
