DICE — MAMMALS OF SOUTHEASTERN WASHINGTON 
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Sciurus hudsonicus richardsonii. Richardson Squirrel. — Common during 
July and August, 1914, in the lowland fir forest at Hompeg Falls. A few were 
observed in heavy Douglas spruce forest near the tops of the mountain ridges 
and one was seen in young lodgepole pine forest near the top of a ridge. In the 
canyon of Butte Creek one was seen in the top of a high cottonwood tree. They 
are also reported by Allen (1898, p. 266) from Blue Creek in the Blue Mountains 
of Walla Walla County. 
Castor canadensis canadensis. Beaver. — A few live along the Touchet River 
east of Prescott, where their homes are in the banks of the stream. Sometimes 
they cause damage by gnawing fruit trees in the orchards near the river or by 
cutting down small trees. However, most of their labor is spent in cutting 
down willows or cottonwoods of little importance to the farmer. They are even 
of some value to the agriculturist in helping to stop with sticks and mud the leaks 
in the brush dams commonly placed in the river to divert water for irrigating 
ditches. One group of beavers in the summer of 1913 built each night a small 
dam across the entrance to an irrigating ditch, but when a rope was stretched 
across the ditch at that point they did not cause further mischief. 
In the Blue Mountains beavers are reported to be common along many of the 
streams. In the summer of 1914 small beaver dams were found to be numerous 
on Butte Creek. The dams were placed across small sloughs and across the tiny 
streams draining from springs. Cuttings seemed to be made on all kinds of trees. 
Tooth marks were noted on willows, cottonwoods, thorns, and on one small 
Douglas spruce. 
Lepus townsendii townsendii. Western White-tailed Jack Rabbit. — Reported 
from Touchet by Nelson (1909, p. 82) . They are also reported by farmers to occur 
rarely on the bunchgrass hills southeast of Wallula. Near Prescott and Lyon’s 
Ferry a number occur in the bunchgrass hills. This species does not make defi- 
nite runways such as are made by the black-tailed jack rabbits. In the region 
near Prescott they become paler in winter than in summer, but no white indi- 
viduals have been noted. 
Lepus bairdii bairdii. Rocky Mountain Snowshoe Rabbit. — A few were seen 
in July and August, 1914, in lowland fir forest near Hompeg Falls. One well 
grown young was shot in lowland fir forest along Butte Creek and signs were 
numerous in the brush along that stream. On top of the ridges near Twin Buttes 
Ranger Station signs were seen in damp Douglas spruce forest and were very 
numerous in patches of buckbrush. 
Lepus californicus wallawalla. Washington Jack Rabbit. — Abundant during 
June, 1914, in the sagebrush of western Walla Walla County. A few were seen 
in the bunchgrass hills southeast of Wallula and they were fairly common in the 
bunchgrass hills north of Nine-mile. On Eureka Flat and the Lower Flat a 
few were seen and runways were numerous in sagebrush and in bunchgrass. 
They are rarely found in the bunchgrass areas near Prescott. The type locality 
of the subspecies is Touchet (Merriam, 1904, p. 137). 
These jack rabbits make well-defined trails. Their forms are often placed 
under a sagebrush just on one side of the trail, or a form may be placed right in the 
trail. Usually these forms are only a slight depression in the ground, but some- 
times under a thick sagebrush a more elaborate form requiring quite a little 
digging is constructed. Washington jack rabbits seem to be most active in the 
