DICE — MAMMALS OF SOUTHEASTERN WASHINGTON 
13 
Finally they all went into a group of badger holes near a small ravine, two indi- 
viduals going into the same hole. Several remained for some time at the mouths 
of the burrows to watch me, as they seemed to be very curious, but soon all 
retired and were not again seen. They seemed to be able to travel backward 
equally well as forward, and when only several feet from a burrow they nearly 
always backed toward and down into it. Every one seemed to go into the burrow 
backward. 
Felis oregonensis hippolestes. Rocky Mountain Puma. — Mr. Floyd Kendall 
reports that pumas are rare in the Blue Mountains. 
Lynx ruffus subsp. Lynx. — A few are reported to occur along the Walla 
Walla River east of Wallula. Tracks in snow were seen December 25, 1908, in 
the timber along the Touchet River two miles east of Prescott. In late July, 
1914, a number of tracks were seen in alpine fir forest on the ridge at the head 
of the North Fork of the Touchet River, and a few in burnt-over and brushy 
places on the ridges near Twin Buttes Ranger Station. 
Onychomys leucogaster fuscogriseus. Gray Grasshopper Mouse. — Hollister 
(1914, p. 444) records two specimens from Touchet. On June 12, 1914, one was 
trapped in sagebrush near the top of a small wind-eroded bluff at the edge of the 
valley of the Walla Walla River three miles east of Wallula. Extensive trapping 
in the same locality failed to secure any other specimens. 
Reithrodontomys megalotis nigrescens. Dusky Harvest Mouse. — In early 
June, 1914, numbers were trapped in the willows along the Walla Walla River 
three miles east of Wallula. One was taken on June 16 at the head of a ravine 
in the bunchgrass hills south of the same locality. Along the Touchet River 
east of Prescott they are abundant in brushy places and in meadows. One was 
found in a stubble field a half-mile from the river on December 24, 1908. Half- 
grown young were taken at Prescott in 1913 as early as April 10, and individuals 
still immature were taken in the latter part of July, 1914. Captives kept in 
large boxes did not eat raw potatoes, but were fond of dry oatmeal and wheat. 
Several half-grown young partly ate one of their number which died. In the 
summer of 1915 signs of mice were noted in a deserted bird’s nest about five feet 
above ground in an arbor vitae shrub growing in a garden near Prescott. A 
trap was set and an adult male harvest mouse secured on July 9. The bird’s 
nest apparently was used as a resting place by the mouse. 
Peromyscus maniculatus gambelii. Gambel White-footed Mouse. — In the 
early part of June, 1914, eleven white-footed mice were trapped in the willows 
along the Walla Walla River three miles east of Wallula. Several were taken 
on June 14 in sagebrush not over 200 yards from an irrigating ditch near the 
same place, but the species does not form a part of the typical sagebrush asso- 
ciation. One was taken June 16 from a line of 10 traps set among the rocks on a 
hillside in the range of hills to the south. In the neighbor,hood of Prescott the 
species is common in the timber along the Touchet River. They are sometimes 
found in houses and barns. A few live in the bunchgrass covered hills and they 
have been taken over a mile and a half from the nearest water. At Lyon’s Ferry 
two were taken on June 25, 1914, in traps set about driftwood and rocks along 
the shores of Snake River, and a number were taken at the bases of the basaltic 
cliffs and on rocky slopes. In the Blue Mountains in the summer of 1914 white- 
footed mice were taken in every land habitat where trapping was done. At 
