Small Mammals in Great Dismal Swamp 89 
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Biological Surveys, directed 
by C. Hart Merriam. Between 1895 and 1898, teams of investigators 
studied and collected in the swamp for a total of 23 weeks. As a result, 
several new taxa of mammals were described from the swamp, including 
a southeastern shrew, Sorex longirostris fisheri Merriam, and a short- 
tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda telmalestes Merriam, each of which is 
much larger than its nearby upland subspecies; a Pleistocene relict 
population of southern bog lemming, Synaptomys cooperi helaletes 
Merriam; and a distinctive muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus macrodon 
(Merriam). A meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus nigrans Rhoads, 
was described from the North Carolina section of the swamp (Rhoads 
and Young 1897). Thus, from the first investigations it was clear that 
there were several unusual mammals in the Great Dismal Swamp. 
(Although named as distinct species, these mammals have since been 
relegated to subspecies status, as shown here.) 
The few attempts to study Dismal Swamp mammals in this century 
have been summarized by Handley (1979), who had access to the 
unpublished data and field notes of government surveys conducted in 
the Dismal Swamp. The early studies (1895-1906 period) indicated that 
the small-mammal fauna was dominated by forest-dwelling species 
[white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus leucopus (Rafinesque); cotton 
mouse, Peromyscus gossypinus gossypinus (LeConte); golden mouse, 
Ochrotomys nuttalli nuttalli (Harlan); and B. brevicauda], with other 
rodents and shrews contributing to a total of 12 species (Handley 1979). 
Handley speculated, as others had done, that some of the species may 
have disappeared as a result of the changes in the water level and the 
vegetation within the swamp. 
Bre idling (1980, see also Breidling et al. 1983) trapped briefly on, and 
measured the food production of, small plots in four forest types in the 
swamp. The only other previous study was conducted in late winter and 
spring of 1980, when Rose (1981a) set lines of pitfall traps under a 
powerline in the northwestern section of the Dismal Swamp in an effort 
to catch S. c. helaletes and S. I fisheri. Within a short time he had 
caught as many S. 1. fisheri as had previously been taken in the swamp, 
and rediscovered S. c. helaletes, which had not been reported in this 
century (Rose 1981b). This short study (Rose 1981a) provided the 
preliminary information for a 12-month project funded by the USFWS’s 
Office of Endangered Species, which sought to determine the status of 
S. /. fisheri and S. c. helaletes and to determine the critical habitats for 
these taxa. The grant provided support for the following studies: (1) 
Dismal Swamp forest mammals, in which nest boxes were used to 
evaluate arboreal small mammals (Walke 1984, Rose and Walke 1988); 
