LIST OF MAMMALS.


Found in the prairie regions of Wisconsin. Food, seeds, grain, insects. They
are very injurious to prairie nurseries. Injurious.
47. Hesperomys Michiganensis. Audubon & Bachman. Prairie Mouse.: Lo-
cality and habits similar to the preceding. Injurious.
48. Arvicola austerus. Leconte. Prairie Meadow Mouse. Quite abundant in
the prairie regions of southern and4 central Wisconsin. It burrows and lays
up
stores of food. Its food -consists of grasses and plants with their seeds
and
roots, grain, corn, hay, vegetables, and the bark and roots of fruit trees,
to
which they are very destructive. The arvicolas may be classed among our
most injurious mammals. The habits and distribution of our other Meadow
mice are quite similar. They comprise the following species:
49. Arvicola riparius. Ord. Meadow Mouse.
50. Arvicola pinetorum. Leconte. Pine Mouse.
51. Arvicola Gapperi. Vigors.
52. Fiber Zibethicus. Cuvier. Muskrat. Found near lakes and streams in
all parts of the state. Habits, aquatic and nocturnal. Food, roots of aquatic
plants and mollusca. Valuable for its fur. Beneficial.
CASTORIDIE.
53. Castor fiber. Linnaeus. American Beaver. Occurs occasionally on some
streams in the northern part of the state. Food, roots of aquatic plants,
the
bark of certain trees, especially the birch and willow, also berries and
leaves
and some kinds of herbage. It is valuable for its fur, and is rapidly becoming
extinct in Wisconsin. Beneficial.
SCrnRIDhRi.
54. Sciurus Sayi. Audubon and Bachman. Fox Squirrel. Found in the oak
openings and groves in the southern and eastern parts of the state. Food,
nuts
of various kinds and corn. In the spring it eats the buds of trees, especially
hickory and oak. Compared with other species they are not numerous. In-
jurious.
55. Sciurus migratorius. Audubon and Bachman. Gray Squirrel. Numerous
in the southern and central portions of Wisconsin. Food, seeds and nuts of
several kinds, also corn and grain when there is a deficiency of its natural
food.
Injurious.
56. Sciurus niger. Linnaeus. Black Squirrel. Occurs rarely in the same lo-
calities as the preceding, of which it is a variety. Its food and habits
are the
same. Injurious.
57. Sciurus Hudsonius. Pallas. Red Squirrel. Found abundantly in the
northern and central parts of the state, especially in the pine groves. Food,
nuts and seeds of various kinds, especially those of the white pine. In the
vi-
cinity of cornfields it is sometimes quite injurious.
58. Pteromys volucella. Pallas. Flying Squirrel. Occurs occasionally in
nearly all parts of Wisconsin. Food, nuts and seeds of various kinds. As
it
seldom or never leaves the timber, it can scarcely be considered injurious.
59. Pteromys Hudsonius. Gmelin. Northern Flying Squirrel. Found occa-
sionally in northern Wisconsin. Its food and habits are similar to the preced-
ing.
60. Tamias striatus. Linnreus. Chipmunk. Occurs in nearly all parts of
Wisconsin, most numerous in thickets and groves, avoiding both the open prairie
and the largest timber. -Its food is nuts and seeds of several kinds, also
grain.
Not injurious unless very numerous.


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