PARKS — NEOTOMA IN SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS 
245 
until they had a considerable pile of sticks. Into this upper mass they 
wove many long, green boughs of freshly cut laurel and vines of different 
kinds with some long sword ferns and filled the interstices with dry cow 
manure brought from an adjacent pasture. In the course of several 
weeks this nest became a structure of considerable size and strength. 
Apparently this mass was piled more or less aimlessly around the 
base of the tree but the effect was to bind the nest securely together. 
The entrance, as in many others, was at the base on the lower or down- 
hill side. The amount of debris that accumulated around the base of 
this nest seemed to indicate considerable extension of the original cavity 
and the running of some small lateral tunnels. 
The material used in these buildings is subject to rapid decay. Most 
of the woods used are soft and light and yield readily to the gnawing 
of the rodents. When manure, vines, and ferns are used the process 
of decay is accelerated. This decay necessitates a constant renewal. 
At the edge of a forest I have found nests that were built around fallen 
oak logs and stumps and the material used in the construction was 
such that little renewal was required. In the fall months all nests 
are gone over to some extent. This work begins at the approach of wet 
weather and frequently continues until the long dry season sets in. 
During the summer season there is a general appearance of dilapidation. 
A nest on the edge of the forest will show some signs of freshening 
up and a considerable amount of debris will be removed from the in- 
terior, while nests in the dense forest will frequently be buried under 
masses of manzanita and toy on. Neither wet nor cold seems to in- 
fluence the amount of this rebuilding. In the spring there is a season 
of cleaning house and large amounts of filth, dirt, droppings, and de- 
composed material is dumped in heaps around the entrances. The 
nests are again covered with long laurel withes or branches clipped 
from redwood or manzanita and vines like the wild cucumber and 
with ferns. 
A large house is not necessarily an indication of a large community 
occupying the nest. Size is attained by the constant addition of 
material required for the protection of the nest and its occupants. 
There is very little evidence in many of the nests which have been 
dismantled, to show that the upper portions of the structure are used 
for any purpose at all and only in a very few have any open chambers 
been found above the main quarters. Where these chambers have 
been found there is nothing to indicate the purpose for which they were 
made. The breeding nests are in the lower chambers close to the under- 
