_With illustrations in color from paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes_
In that part of North America lying north of Mexico more than 1,300
species and geographic races of mammals are known to exist. Of these by
far the greater number, both of species and individuals, fall into the
class of smaller mammals.
Some of the most characteristic types which appear to have originated
in North America are the mountain-beavers, pocket-gophers,
kangaroo-rats, pocket-mice, wood-rats, white-footed mice, muskrats,
skunks, and ring-tailed cats.
In Siberia and Europe live close counterparts of our northern weasels,
minks, martens, field-mice, lemmings, northern hares, conies, marmots,
moles, and others; and on our southern border the armadillo and the
hog-nosed skunk introduce a faint tinge of a strange fauna from South
America.