66 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
somewhat lower than usual. The nests, though hot exactly measured, 
were probably about 12 to 18 inches in diameter, and 10 to 15 inches 
high. 
There is comparatively little open water on the prairie, and Neo fiber 
here seems to be a bog inhabitant rather than an aquatic animal. Its 
runways lead away from the nests over the sphagnum and peat, among 
the stems of fern and maiden-cane. Water stands in the runways in 
places, but for the most part is hardly deep enough to cause the animals 
to swim. Here and there the runways become tunnels through the 
sphagnum ; and one may also see where the animals have made diggings 
down into the bog, evidently in search of roots. Lee discovered some 
fern {AncMstea) roots that had been chewed, and we sampled them 
ourselves. They tasted tolerably good, suggesting a raw peanut, and 
were quite slippery to the tongue. ' 
The nest chamber is in effect an anticlinal tunnel connecting with 
runways on opposite sides of the nest. The entrances are about at the 
water-level. The floor of the tunnel at its middle part, while elevated 
above the water-level, is not necessarily dry. In some, but by no 
means all, of the nests, the middle part of the tunnel was occupied by a 
little bed of soft and fairly dry vegetation, distinct from the mass of 
the nest. Perhaps these are places for the reception of the young. On 
January 5 my companion found in a nest two small and scantily haired 
young ones, with eyes not yet open. In one case the upper part of a 
Neofiber house was found to contain a little nest of finer material, 
evidently belonging to a rice rat {Oryzomys palustris palustris) which 
was trapped there. 
We found other nests on Cow-house Prairie and on Chase Prairie. 
Notwithstanding the evident abundance of the animals, we caught no 
glimpse of them at their nests or elsewhere. Apparently they are very 
shy. In the Okefinokee vernacular they are known as “prairie rats” 
or “water rats.” 
