Part 4

A small, tailless member of the rabbit family, guinea-pig like in form, with short, round ears and a varying colored coat, ranging from buffy to brown. Total length 7 inches. Height at shoulder 3 inches.

The little, abrupt-moving pika is found abundantly among the rock slides and slopes from timberline to the highest alpine peaks. Its high, quick bleat or shrill squeak, ventriloquistic in character, may be heard at any of the large rock piles in the alpine zone. Having a pronounced preference for cooler climate, it is but rarely found in the lower-valley montane zone. Wonderfully camouflaged to blend in with the rocks where it lives, it always crouches on all fours, never "sitting up" as do the similar sized ground squirrels. The pika spends his summer industriously gathering grasses and flowers and "curing" them on the sun-baked rocks to form his winter supply of food or "haypile." He does not hibernate, but lives actively throughout the winter, snug and secure from winter storms among the rock piles.

COTTONTAIL RABBIT (Sylvilagus nuttallii pinetis)

Small rabbit with feet and ears shorter than a jack rabbit or snowshoe hare. Fur remains dark grayish brown in winter. Short fluffy tail prominent while running. The snowshoe hare in its summer coat resembles the cottontail. However, the hare has larger hind feet and runs with great bounding leaps, in contrast to the short, rapid hops of the cottontail. Total length 16 inches. Ear length slightly over 2 inches.

The common little cottontail frequents the woods and valleys of the montane zone. The prolific mating habits are necessary to maintain their numbers, since they are heavily preyed on by many carnivorous animals. A single female may produce as many as 25 young during a year, in four or five matings. Cottontails, like the hares and jackrabbits, are subject to periodic diseases which may cause their virtual disappearance from a region. However, those rabbits surviving the epidemics will suddenly start to increase, and in a few years the area will again contain hundreds. These sudden changes in populations may occur regularly every five or ten years.

WHITE-TAILED JACK RABBIT (Lepus townsendii townsendii)

A large hare with very long ears (about 5 inches) and long, powerful hind limbs. Coat is a varying shade of gray turning paler in winter. In the very high altitudes, the coat will turn an almost white shade. in which coloration it resembles the snowshoe hare. Total length 24 inches. Found west of the Continental Divide. A subspecies (Lepus townsendii campanius) is found east of the Divide. Description same as above.

SNOWSHOE HARE (Lepus americanus bairdii)

Very much like the white-tailed jack rabbit, except the ears are not over 3 inches in length, and the coloration is more buffy-gray in summer. Changes to a thick, pure white coat in winter with only the tips of the ears remaining black. Total length 17 inches.

The snowshoe rabbit has gained its name from the hair covering the long toes and large feet. These "snowshoes" enable the animals to travel over the lightest snow crusts without sinking out of sight. Its wonderful protective coloration both in summer and winter, combined with a bounding jump which can carry it up to thirty miles an hour, provide this hare with means of evading some of its numerous predators. It is fairly common in the subalpine forests and tundra country both in summer and winter. The snowshoe hare has also been called the varying hare because of the molting or changing of coats with each winter and summer season.

THE SHREWS (INSECTIVORES)

Shrews and moles both belong to the order of insectivores, so called because their diet consists principally of insects. No moles have been reported for the Park as yet. The nervous little shrew, smallest of all North American mammals, is distinctly mouse-like at first glance. Closer inspection, however, will reveal a very small, darting animal with long, pointed, quivering nose, tiny or hidden eyes and ears, a slender body, and a gray, velvet-like fur that brushes easily either way. Even the smallest shrews have razor-like teeth and vicious tempers, which give members of the mouse world great fear of these terrible little assassins. They will not hesitate to leap on fat mice twice their size and kill them with their tiny jaws. They live on the ground and are active during both day and night hours. Being difficult to observe, they are usually studied in the field by trapping techniques. Meadows, damp places, and rotted logs are favorite habitats. The kinds of shrews found in the Park are indicated below with their relative abundance. Complete identification may be made by reference to larger texts.

MASKED SHREW (Sorex cinereus cinereus)

Common in all life zones of the Park.

DUSKY SHREW (Sorex obscurus obscurus)

Common up to timberline in moist areas.

DWARF SHREW (Sorex nanus)

Probably occasional in montane zone.

WATER SHREW (Sorex palustris navigator)

Probably occasional in and about streams of montane and subalpine zones.

THE FLYING MAMMALS (BATS)

The bats are set apart from all other mammals because they have the power of flight. Otherwise, they possess the mammal characteristics of having a fur covering and suckling their young. Bats are rarely seen during the daylight hours, as they spend this time hanging upside down by claw-like feet in and about buildings and in branches of trees. They are mostly brownish or grayish with large "leathery" wings. Body length is from three to five inches; wing expanse six to twelve inches. Weight ¼ to 2 ounces. They swoop through the darkness with erratic, twisting movements and feed on flying insects. Their mouth contains a number of needle-sharp teeth. Bats have been greatly publicized because of their ability to fly through total darkness at relatively high speeds, avoiding all obstacles. In flight, the bats utter crys too high-pitched to be audible to the human ear. The vibration of these cries are "bounced back" from objects as the bats approach, and are picked up by extremely sensitive ears in time to permit dodging the obstacle. In addition to these "silent" echo calls, they are capable of uttering staccato squeaks while in flight which are audible to the human ear. They will not strike or "hit" people in their vicinity. In winter they may go into a hibernation period in caves or migrate, like birds, to warmer climates. Very little is known about the species of bats existing in this mountain region, therefore the following list gives only an indication of the variety of bats believed to be in the Park.

BIG BROWN BAT (Eptesicus fuscus fuscus)

HOARY BAT (Lasiurus cinereus)

SILVER-HAIRED BAT (Lasionycteris noctivagans)

LUMP-NOSED BAT (Corynorhinus rafinesquii pallescens)

LARGE-EARED BROWN BAT (Myotis evotis chrysonotus)

TRACKS

Transcriber's Notes

--Silently corrected a few typos.

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Corrected some page numbers in the list of Illustrations, and added entries for tracks from the book cover.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.