_Antrozous pallidus cantwelli_ Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 55:391,
August 29, 1936.
_Type._--Obtained at Rogersburg, Asotin County, Washington, by G.
G. Cantwell on May 28, 1918; type in United States National Museum.
_Measurements._--A male from the south bank of the Columbia River,
opposite Fallbridge, Klickitat County, measures: total length 113;
length of tail 40; hind foot 14; ear 36; height of tragus 13;
weight 19.8 grams.
_Distribution._--Recorded only from localities near the Columbia
and Snake rivers in eastern Washington; from Wenatchee (W.W.D.)
south and east to Bly and Rogersburg (Taylor and Shaw, 1929: 9).
_Description._--_Antrozous pallidus_ is more likely to be confused with
_Corynorhinus_ than with any other kind of bat and can be distinguished
from _Corynorhinus_ by its larger size (4-1/2 to 5 inches), lighter
color, thick and leathery membranes, and shorter, wider ears.
_Antrozous_ lacks the prominent "lumps" on the rostrum, characteristic
of the long-eared bat. The dental formula is: i. 1-1/2-2, c. 1-1/1-1, p.
1-1/2-2, m. 3-3/3-3 = 28.
The genus _Antrozous_ is confined to western United States and
northwestern Mexico. Two species are recognized by Miller (1924: 84).
One of these (_pallidus_) includes three geographic races. A single race
is known to occur in Washington.
[Illustration: FIG. 47. Distribution of the pallid bat, _Antrozous
pallidus cantwelli_, in Washington.]
The pallid bat chooses a crevice in a cliff, cave, or building as its
daytime hiding place. Like _Corynorhinus_, it is colonial. The basalt
cliffs of eastern Washington offer such ideal hiding places that pallid
bats are seldom seen and consequently little is known of their habits.
In the southwestern United States, pallid bats are more abundant and
better known. H. W. Grinnell (1918: 355) notes that the floor of a roost
of pallid bats was strewn each morning with the heads, wings, and legs
of insects. Most numerous were the remains of the Jerusalem cricket
(_Stenopelmatus_), a flightless insect that the bats must have secured
on the ground. Engler (1943: 96) found that in captivity, pallid bats
would kill and eat smaller bats and lizards confined with them.
Bailey (1936: 392) believes that the young of this bat are born in late
June and early July. One or two young constitute a litter.
=Ursus americanus= Pallas
Black bear
_Description._--The black bear is the largest carnivore found in
Washington if the grizzly is extinct there. The exact size of the adult
male black bear is somewhat in question. Few actual weights are on
record of Washington bears. Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale (1937: 101)
paid special attention to the maximum weight of black bears in
California and concluded that few ever exceeded 500 pounds. The total
length of the largest black bear among specimens from the entire Pacific
Coastal area, especially from California and Alaska, they give as 5
feet, 10 inches (_op. cit._, p. 102). It may safely be assumed that few
individuals ever reach a length of six feet. Females are smaller;
recorded weights of adults rarely exceed 350 pounds. The largest males
have hind feet from 10 to 10-1/2 inches in length.
[Illustration: FIG. 48. Female black bear (_Ursus americanus
altifrontalis_), and two cubs, near Big Four Inn, Mt. Baker National
Forest, Washington, July, 1939. (Forest Service photo by R. L.
Fromme.)]
The black bear, including its closely related species, the Mexican bear,
_Ursus machetes_, ranges over Alaska, Canada, the United States and
northern Mexico. The distinction between the black and grizzly bears has
been listed under the account of _Ursus chelan_.
The fur of black bears in the Cascade Mountains in the fall is long,
sleek and glossy but rather stiff. In the spring and early summer the
fur of animals at Mount Rainier often appeared coarse, wooly and patchy
or rubbed on older animals. Some smaller bears possessed sleek,
well-groomed pelts. Bears from the lowland areas are said to possess
poor pelts because of constant abrasion in the forests. In the fall,
when the salmon are spawning, the bears are said by trappers to roll in
decayed fish until they "smell so bad you can't come near them" and
their fur is matted and "crawling with lice."
It is now known that the cinnamon bear, sometimes called brown bear, is
merely a color phase of the black bear. The brown phase varies in color
from a rich, dark reddish brown to a pale cinnamon brown. Cowan (1938:
204) has recorded the geographic variation in the brown and black coats
of the bears of British Columbia and, in part, of Washington. On the
Olympic Peninsula the brown phase is rare. Old residents have told me of
seeing but a few brown bears in their life. I have seen only black bears
in the lowlands of western Washington. Cowan (_loc. cit._) lists 1,197
black and 79 brown bears from Fort Nisqually, Pierce County, between
1834 and 1852. In the Cascade Mountains the brown phase is not uncommon,
perhaps one out of five bears seen being brown. In northeastern
Washington the brown and black phases are about equal in number, and
some trappers state that the browns are more numerous. Cowan lists 3,813
black and 2,871 brown bears from Fort Colville between 1826 and 1856.
The black bear occurs in a variety of habitats in Washington. It seems
to be absent only from the treeless areas of eastern Washington, and is
most abundant in the Cascade Mountains and Olympic Mountains where food
is abundant and men are few. It is not uncommon throughout the timbered
lowlands of northeastern Washington and western Washington, however, and
shows a surprising ability to exist unnoticed near the larger cities. In
the dense, junglelike forests of southwestern Washington it is numerous.
Jackson (1944: 1) estimates that 13,679 black bears live in Washington,
more than in any other state.
The habits of the black bear have changed greatly where it has come into
contact with man. At Mount Rainier National Park black bears now ignore
people, save to beg for food. In the Cascades the bears are wild but so
seldom see men that in many places they live much as they did hundreds
of years ago. In the lowlands of western Washington they are in daily
contact with evidence of man or his guns. As a result they are silent
and shy, rarely being seen.
[Illustration: FIG. 49. Black bear (_Ursus americanus altifrontalis_),
in "hibernation," Mt. Baker region, Washington, about 1936. (John E.
Candle photo, courtesy "Field and Stream.")]
The black bear in the mountains is active sometimes by day and sometimes
by night. Probably it is principally nocturnal but active by day only
when the food obtained at night is insufficient to meet the needs of the
animal. In the lowlands it is almost completely nocturnal. In the
mountains it enters upon its winter sleep with the first snows or, if
the snows are late, when the huckleberries are gone. Ordinarily black
bears are in "hibernation" by the middle of November. In the lowlands of
western Washington they are active until after the salmon spawning
season, and probably do not "hibernate" before the middle of December
and may not do so at all. In the mountains they emerge from the winter
sleep in May; in the lowlands they emerge in February or March.
The black bear is omnivorous in the truest sense of the word. Because
the animal is of large size it requires much nourishment. This is
obtained by eating large quantities of material with low food value.
Material eaten passes rapidly through the digestive tract and often only
easily digested parts seem to be utilized. Feces commonly contain
complete and undigested berries and seeds or almost undigested pieces of
apples or other fruit.
The principal food of the black bear in Washington is berries. Many
species are eaten, but the huckleberry (_Vaccinium_ sp.) is favored.
Other food items are: _Gaultheria shallon_ (pulpy fruit); Oregon grape,
_Berberis nervosa_ (flowers and fruit); salmonberry, _Rubus parviflorus_
(leaves and fruit); leaves of several plants, including _Rubus
macropetalus_ and other thorny kinds; grass, succulent plants, and
roots. Insects are eaten and most feces show remains of a few. In June,
1938, near Cle Elum, Kittitas County, a species of sword-tailed cricket
fully two inches in length was abundant, and droppings of a bear there
were composed entirely of the remains of these crickets. Fish,
especially spawning salmon, are important food. When salmon are spawning
the bears in the vicinity feed on nothing else. Warm-blooded vertebrates
probably are eaten but none of the many bear droppings examined by me
contained remains of birds or mammals. Bennett, English and Watts (1943:
30) found few mammals to be eaten by bears studied by them in
Pennsylvania. Locally bears kill pigs and sheep, smash bee-hives and
raid fruit trees.
The large size and sometimes awkward appearance of black bears combine
to give a comic note to some of their natural actions. A bear in full
flight, lumbering along a trail with head swinging from side to side and
hind feet stretching past the forelegs at each stride, is more apt than
not to amuse the observer. Near Stevens Pass, a large black bear was
observed lying on its back in a mud wallow. This was an oval opening in
the ground in a meadow of heather and huckleberry near a small stream.
The wallow was approximately 5 feet long, 3 feet deep and 4 feet wide.
The bear was immersed in muddy water with only its head and feet
visible. It seemed well content and comfortable, shifting its bulk
occasionally and waving its paws. When a stray breeze brought to the
bear the scent of my companion and myself the animal's contentment
vanished and it hastily made a frantic effort to depart. It had wedged
itself deeply in the hole, and as it twisted and turned in attempting to
sit up, waves of water gushed from the wallow. Eventually escaping from
its wallow, the bear half ran and half rolled to the cover of alders 100
feet away. This particular wallow had been in use by bears for some
time, as was attested by old droppings at its edge and by its well-worn
condition.
[Illustration: FIG. 50. Distribution of the black bear in Washington.
A. _Ursus americanus altifrontalis._ B. _Ursus americanus cinnamomum._]
The fact that Washington has the largest population of black bears of
the states in the union is due, largely, I feel, to abundant natural
cover, food, such as salmon and huckleberries, and an intelligent game
code. In California and some other states the black bear has been
considered a fur bearer, to be trapped with steel traps. This is
permitted in spite of the fact that their pelts bring but a few dollars,
usually less than ten. Their sale scarcely repays the trapper for his
labor in preparing the hide. Townsend (1887: 182) remarked on the ease
with which bears could be trapped in California although in the same
area they were so shy that they could seldom be shot. As a result of
trapping, the number of bears in some states has been dangerously
reduced. In Washington the bear is a game animal, to be hunted with a
rifle for a few weeks in the fall when the pelt and flesh are at their
best. As a result bears are numerous and can be hunted with fair chances
of success.
=Ursus americanus altifrontalis= Elliot
_Ursus altifrontalis_ Elliot, Field Columb. Mus. Publ. 80, zoöl.
ser. 3:234, June, 1903.
_Euarctos altifrontalis_ Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 128:90,
April 29, 1924.
_Ursus americanus americanus_ Taylor and Shaw, Mammals and Birds
of Mount Rainier National Park, U. S. Nat. Park Service,
Washington, p. 37, 1927.
_Euarctos americanus altifrontalis_ Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna,
55:321, August 29, 1936.
_Ursus americanus altifrontalis_ Hall, Univ. California Publ.
Zoöl., 30:232, March 2, 1928.
_Type._--Obtained at Lake Crescent, Olympic Peninsula, Clallam
County, Washington, by D. G. Elliot in 1898; type in Field Museum
of Natural History.
_Racial characters._--Color dark, almost always black instead of
brown; skull wide, high and heavy; molar teeth wide and heavy.
_Distribution._--From the eastern base of the Cascade Mountains
westward to the Pacific. Marginal occurrences are Chelan (W.W.D.)
and Signal Peak (Taylor and Shaw, 1929: 10).
=Ursus americanus cinnamomum= Audubon and Bachman
_Ursus americanus var. cinnamomum_ Audubon and Bachman, Quadrupeds
of North America, 3:125, 1854.
_Euarctos cinnamomum_ Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 128:91, April
29, 1924.
_Euarctos americanus cinnamomum_ Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 55:319,
August 29, 1936.
_Ursus americanus cinnamomum_ Hall, Univ. California Publ. Zoöl.,
30:232, March 2, 1928.
_Type._--Obtained near the mouth of Jim Ford Creek, Lower
Clearwater River, western Idaho (Bailey, 1936: 319) by Lewis and
Clark on May 31, 1806.
_Racial characters._--Resembling _altifrontalis_ but skull and
molar teeth narrower; color even in black phase paler and browner;
brown and black phases of approximately equal incidence.
_Distribution._--Northeastern Washington and the Blue Mountains of
southeastern Washington, occurring westward as far as Republic
(Taylor and Shaw, 1929: 10).
=Ursus chelan= Merriam
Grizzly bear
_Ursus chelan_ Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 29:136,
September 6, 1916.
_Type._--Obtained in Township 30 N. Range 16 E. Willamette
Meridian, Wenatchee National Forest, Chelan County, Washington, by
D. S. Rice on September 1, 1913; type in United States National
Museum.
_Measurements._--The skull of the type, an old male, measures:
basal length 314; occipito-nasal length 323; palatal length 170;
zygomatic breadth 225; interorbital breadth 86.
_Distribution._--Probably once from the Stevens Pass area north to
British Columbia. Possibly still remaining in the mountains
between Mount Baker and Lake Chelan.
_Remarks._--Grizzly bears occurred in the lowlands of Oregon
(Bailey, 1936: 324) and California (Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale,
1937: 67) but there is no record of their ever having occurred in
the lowlands of western Washington.
Bears of the genus _Ursus_ range over Europe, Asia and North America. No
less than 75 kinds of grizzly and big brown bears are recognized for
North America by Merriam (1918). They are closely related to the brown
bears of Asia. The 13 kinds of black bears of North America are now
thought to belong to but one species, namely _americanus_, and have no
close relatives in Eurasia.
[Illustration: FIG. 51. Probable past distribution of grizzly bears in
Washington. A. _Ursus chelan._ B. _Ursus canadensis._ C. _Ursus
idahoensis._]
The grizzly is the largest carnivorous mammal in North America. From the
black bear the grizzly may be distinguished in life by the prominent
muscular hump on the shoulders. Another feature is the long, slim,
gently curved claws of the forefoot as compared with the shorter,
stouter and sharply curved or hooked foreclaws of the black bear. The
grizzly is much larger than the black bear. Cranially, the grizzly
differs in possessing a larger skull with lower frontal area, higher,
more extensive sagittal crest, more posteriorly jutting occipital
condyles and much longer tooth row. The color of both species is
variable. Some grizzly bears from Alaska and British Columbia are dark
brown, almost as black as a black bear. Others are pale cinnamon with
the longer guard hairs pale gray. Individuals of this frosted appearance
popularly are known as "silver tips." In Washington, the black bear
varies in color from glossy black, through various shades of brown to a
pale cinnamon.
The grizzly bear is extinct over most of Washington. A few may remain in
remote parts of the northern Cascades, and are regularly listed on the
game census reports of the Mount Baker National Forest. Nevertheless, I
have found no one who has seen an undoubted grizzly bear in Washington.
The type specimen was obtained well up in the Cascade Mountains where
the animals, like those in British Columbia, feed on roots, berries,
marmots, pikas and other vegetable and animal life.
=Procyon lotor= (Linnaeus)
Raccoon
_Description._--The raccoon is a relatively large carnivore with a
stout, heavy body. Large adults measure three feet in length and weigh
up to 20 pounds. The legs are of moderate length. The broad head tapers
sharply to a pointed muzzle. The ears are erect, broad, low and rounded;
the tail is long, about one-half the length of the head and body, bushy
and round; the hind feet are large, flat and naked-soled but the
forefeet are smaller with long, slim, handlike toes. The color of the
body is a grizzled gray heavily washed with black on the back and sides.
A jet-black "mask" across the eyes, sharply outlined by white muzzle and
forehead, is the most distinctive feature of the head. The tail is
alternately marked with six or seven black and five or six yellowish
gray bands. The long, loose guard hairs give the body a shaggy
appearance. The fur of the wrists is short, smooth, coarse, and directed
downward.
The raccoon is not an aquatic mammal, yet it is closely associated with
water, whether it be streams, rivers, lakes or the ocean. The favored
habitat of the raccoon is the shore line. It is a wader and, if it can
be considered as specialized for any occupation, it is wading in mud and
shallow water. Its long toes, naked feet, and short-haired wrists are
admirable adapted for walking on muddy bottoms or in shallow water. The
coon is also at home on land. It moves swiftly and silently and when
chased by dogs can cover miles in a few hours. It is an agile climber
and lives in dens well up in trees.
The raccoon is almost completely nocturnal. Individuals are occasionally
seen in the morning or evening, especially, when the tide is low along
the ocean beach or Puget Sound. Near Fall City, King County, a small
raccoon was seen eating a crayfish at 3:30 p.m. on a warm, sunny June
day. In the eastern United States raccoons sleep during much of the
winter, and probably they do the same in eastern Washington. In western
Washington they are active most of the winter. Some trappers stated that
the animals "hole up" in spells of unusually cold weather. Along the
Tolt River, 10 miles southeast of Duvall, King County, their tracks were
seen daily in January, 1936, although the temperature fell well below
freezing each night.
Washington is near the northern limit of the range of the raccoon. The
animal is reasonably common in western Washington, and ranges well up
into the Cascade Mountains. The highest altitudinal record available is
Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park (Taylor and Shaw, 1927). Raccoons
are not uncommon in southeastern Washington and in the Yakima Valley.
They follow the Columbia River northward, as shown by tracks at
Wenatchee on two occasions. The river valleys that flow into the
Columbia in northeastern Washington seem admirably adapted for raccoons
but the animal is rare there. Trappers who have lived and trapped in
northeastern Washington for many years tell of seeing tracks at
intervals of years along the Okanogan, San Poil, Colville and Kettle
rivers. Several stated that tracks had been seen more often in recent
years. Northeastern Washington seems to be the peripheral range of the
species, occupied at rare intervals by animals wandering north from the
Columbia River.
The food habits of raccoons are almost as varied as those of black
bears. Animal matter forms their diet over most of the year; along
stream courses crayfish, fish, thin-shelled fresh-water mussels, frogs
(_Hyla_ and _Rana_), and aquatic insects are eaten. Along beaches fish
brought in by the tide, crustaceans, and mussels (_Mytilus edulis_) are
taken; small sharks appear not to be eaten. A recently dead dogfish that
lay on the beach at Whidby Island, Island County, was ringed by the
tracks of a raccoon but had not been eaten. The shore crabs
(_Hemigrapsus nudus_ and _Hemigrapsus oregonensis_) are a favored food
and regular items of diet. The edible crab (_Cancer productus_) is also
eaten and in the San Juan Islands the porcelain crab (_Petrolisthes
eriomerus_) was commonly eaten. Small mammals and birds are eaten
regularly by this race of raccoon in California (Grinnell, Dixon and
Linsdale, 1937: 157), and the eggs and young of wild birds are sought in
the spring (_op. cit._: 158). The ability of the raccoon as a climber
makes it a particular menace to nesting birds. Berries, including
domestic blackberries and salmonberries, are eaten in quantity when
available. Apples are dearly loved and the trees and orchards of
abandoned ranches are regularly visited. The fondness of the raccoon for
green corn is well known. Insects are present in small quantities in
most droppings and in the late summer some feces were composed entirely
of the remains of grasshoppers. Chickens, ducks, young turkeys and eggs
are stolen and individuals become extremely adept at raiding hen-houses.
At one time, about 1920, the raccoon became scarce in western Washington
as a result of heavy trapping and high price of the pelts. A closed
season was strictly enforced until it again became common. The price
received by the trapper for raw furs of raccoon has since been rather
low, from two to ten dollars. With fur prices in this range, the number
of raccoons probably will not be reduced to a dangerously low level by
trapping, but instead may be expected to furnish a regular winter income
to the trappers who do trap for it.
Raccoons are known to breed in their first year of life (Pope, 1944:
91).
=Procyon lotor psora= Gray
_Procyon psora_ Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 10: 261. December,
1842.
_Procyon psora pacifica_ Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 16: 107, October
28, 1899 (type from Lake Keechelus, Kittitas County, Washington).
_Procyon proteus_ Brass, Aus dem Reiche der Pelze, p. 564, 1911.
_Procyon lotor pacifica_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Pap. Chas. R.
Conner Mus., no. 2: 10. December, 1929.
_Procyon lotor psora_ Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale, Fur-bearing
Mamm. California, Univ. California Press, Berkeley, p. 137, July
22, 1937.
_Type locality._--Sacramento, Sacramento County, California.
_Racial characters._--Medium size; dark color; smoothly rounded
skull.
_Measurements._--A female from Forks, Clallam County, measures:
total length 905; length of tail 355; hind foot 125; ear 50;
weight 14-1/2 lbs. A female and 6 males, young animals of the
year, taken between November 15 and December 15, average: 772;
284; 114; weight (of 3) 8-2/3 lbs.
[Illustration: FIG. 52. Distribution of the raccoon in Washington. A.
_Procyon lotor psora._ B. _Procyon lotor excelsus._]
_Distribution._--From the western slope of the Cascade Mountains
westward. Marginal occurrences are Lake Keechelus (type locality)
and Mount Rainier (Taylor and Shaw, 1927: 45).
_Remarks._--The range of variation in color and cranial characters
of coastal raccoons is large. I am unable to find any character or
average difference to separate the raccoons of western Washington
from those of northern California.
=Procyon lotor excelsus= Nelson and Goldman
_Procyon lotor excelsus_ Nelson and Goldman, Jour. Mamm., 11:458,
November 11, 1930.
_Type._--Obtained on upper Owyhee River, near the mouth of the
North Fork in southeastern Oregon by J. W. Fisk on April 15, 1920;
type in United States National Museum.
_Racial characters._--Similar to _psora_ but larger; body paler
and grayer; skull larger, heavier and more angular.
_Distribution._--Southeastern Washington, the valleys of the Snake
and Yakima rivers and the valley of the Columbia River north to
northeastern Washington. Marginal records, from reports of
trappers, include the Okanogan River, Okanogan County, Wenatchee,
Chelan County, and Selah, Yakima County.
_Remarks._--The assignment of the raccoons of northeastern Washington to
_excelsus_ is tentative for I have seen no specimens.
=Martes caurina= Merriam
Western marten