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JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
sometime in the 90’s when a party from the revenue cutter Corwin landed and 
shot 16. 
The old trails Elliott mentions are still plainly seen, worn deep into the tundra. 
Skulls of several animals were found, all with bullet holes in them, and two were 
preserved. Very probably a few bears may still come down in winter on the ice pack 
but they have been hunted so much of late years that they cannot be common. 
Microtus abbreviatus. Hall Island Meadow Mouse. — Runways of rodents 
completely undermine certain large areas of both St. Matthew and Hall Islands, 
but at the present time most of them are unused. Indeed “fresh signs” of mice 
were rarely found and the result of my trapping is a single adult female, skin 
and skeleton. The remains of others were collected in owl pellets and there 
appears to be more than one species. This material has not been critically ex- 
amined, but in all probability it includes bones of Microtus a. fisheri Merriam, 
described from specimens taken on St. Matthew Island in 1899 by Dr. A. K. 
Fisher, during the visit of the Harriman Expedition. 
NESTS OF THE WESTERN FOX SQUIRREL 
By H. L. Stoddard 
[Plate 7] 
All accounts of the habits of the western fox squirrel {Sciurus niger 
rufiventer) that I have been able to find, speak of the young as being 
brought forth in hollow trees, no mention being made of the carefully 
constructed open nest used for this purpose in parts of the range of 
this squirrel. 
In the sand dunes of northwestern Indiana particularly, where fox 
squirrels are still fairly abundant, the young born in early spring at 
least are usually brought forth in a very ingenious type of open nest, 
though hollow trees are common. These nests are round or oval in 
shape, tightly woven of freshly cut oak or other tough twigs. Inside 
of this twig shell comes a thick compact wall of large leaves, evidently 
pressed into shape while damp, making a smooth, tough lining capable 
of resisting wind, cold and rain. The nest proper is then made of soft 
inner bark, shredded leaves and other material. * 
The entrance hole is on one end and is just large enough to admit 
the owner, the surrounding fiber often nearly closing the opening. The 
accompanying figure, which is from a group prepared for circulation in 
the Chicago schools by the N. W. Harris Public School Extension of 
Field Museum, shows a typical nest in the original crotch, with one side 
removed to show details of construction. 
