_Second-growth forest and scrub habitat_:
_Mustela noveboracensis noveboracensis._ New York weasel. 1.
_Mephitis nigra._ Eastern skunk. 1.
_Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis._ Northern white-footed
mouse. 5.
_Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus._ Pennsylvania vole. 4.
_Mus musculus musculus._ House mouse. 1.
_Marmota monax monax._ Southern woodchuck. 1.
_Sciurus hudsonicus loquax._ Southern red squirrel. 1.
_Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii._ Mearns cottontail. 5.
Small trees and brush have grown up along the edges of many of the
ravines in the cleared fields in and surrounding the preserve. Many of
the trees are oaks, but beech and hard maple also occur, a few of them
being relics from the original forest. Considerable brush is present,
formed by a large variety of species. A few other small patches,
especially in ravine bottoms and on flood-plains have been allowed to
grow up to brush and small trees. In nearly every case these areas are
heavily pastured.
The conditions here included in the second-growth forest and scrub
habitat are not homogeneous, but differ in each different location
where the habitat is found, tree and shrub species abundant in one
situation not being present in another. The habitat is usually narrow
in extent, being often confined to the width of the steep ravine wall.
Owing to its poor development and uncertain characteristics no
intensive trapping was done in this type of habitat. A weasel was
trapped in open beech-maple-oak forest at the edge of a cleared
ravine, and a woodchuck was shot in the same type of habitat. Another
woodchuck and a skunk were trapped at different times in low willow
brush on the banks of the river just north of the woods. Northern
white-footed mice, Pennsylvania voles, and a house mouse were trapped
in thick oak brush and trees alongside a road north of the woods. A
red squirrel was shot in second-growth oak and aspen woods in the
north part of the preserve, and they were seen in open woods along
ravines. Cottontails were noted a few times in blackberry thickets,
in brush in ravines, in clearings along the river, and in
beech-maple-oak forest along ravines.
_Cleared-ravine sedge habitat_:
_Blarina brevicauda talpoides._ Short-tailed shrew. 1.
_Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis._ Northern white-footed
mouse. 3.
_Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus._ Pennsylvania vole. 5.
A large ravine south of the river had been cleared of trees evidently
several years previously, and it has now grown up mostly to sedges,
grass, and iris in its more moist parts. Along the little brook which
flows through the ravine there is a fringe of willows, and among the
sedges a number of shrubs and small trees occur, mostly thorns and a
few young sycamores and black walnuts.
Fifty mouse traps set in this habitat took on the first day, August
16, three northern white-footed mice and three Pennsylvania voles.
More voles and a short-tailed shrew were taken on later days.
_Cleared-upland rush habitat_:
_Mephitis nigra._ Eastern skunk. Den.
_Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii._ Prairie white-footed mouse. 1.
_Synaptomys cooperi._ Cooper lemming-vole. 1.
_Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus._ Pennsylvania vole. 7.
_Microtus ochrogaster._ Prairie vole. 1.
_Citellus tridecemlineatus tridecemlineatus._ Thirteen-striped
ground squirrel. 2.
In the shallow, poorly drained depressions of the cleared upland the
vegetation is dominated by rushes, which grow in clumps and form a
thick growth, reaching a height of about one meter as a maximum. At
the edges of the habitat and in places not thickly covered by the
rushes a growth of sedges, grasses, and moss covers the ground; but
under the thickest growth of rushes the ground is bare and is
evidently covered by water during a part of the year. On this upland
one small pond surrounded by rushes did not dry up until late in
August. In a few places small blackberry thickets occur in the areas
of rushes and dominate all other plants.
Fifty traps set in this habitat, on August 8, took on the first night
one prairie white-footed mouse and one Pennsylvania vole; the prairie
white-footed mouse was taken just at the edge of the growth of rushes.
Other Pennsylvania voles as well as a lemming-vole, a prairie vole,
and several young ground squirrels were secured on later nights by the
same trap-line. A skunk den was situated in a blackberry thicket in
the midst of the largest patch of rushes.
_Cleared-upland sedge habitat_:
_Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii._ Prairie white-footed mouse. 3.
_Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus._ Pennsylvania vole. 1.
_Microtus ochrogaster._ Prairie vole. 9.
_Mus musculus musculus._ House mouse. 1.
_Citellus tridecemlineatus tridecemlineatus._ Thirteen-striped
ground squirrel. Burrows.
Sedges are dominant over a part of the cleared upland, occurring on
the moist gentle slopes which are too well drained for rushes, but not
in any numbers on the drier and higher parts of the upland. With the
sedges there are a few grasses, and the ground is sometimes covered by
a moss, but the sedges are by far the most abundant plant.
Fifty mouse traps set in this habitat took on the first night, August
15, one prairie white-footed mouse and one prairie vole. Other prairie
voles and white-footed mice were taken on later nights, as well as one
Pennsylvania vole and one house mouse. Burrows of the thirteen-striped
ground squirrel were numerous in the sedges.
_Cleared-upland blue-grass habitat_:
_Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii._ Prairie white-footed mouse. 12.
_Mus musculus musculus._ House mouse. 1.
_Citellus tridecemlineatus tridecemlineatus._ Thirteen-striped
ground squirrel. 23.
The most widespread habitat of the cleared upland on the south part of
the preserve is the blue-grass habitat. In this habitat the
blue-grass, _Poa_, is the dominant plant, growing to a height of
usually not over 0.5 meter. With the blue-grass are associated a few
thistles, yarrow, and several other herbs. During the whole period of
my stay in the region, July and August, the habitat was very dry, and
the grass and herbs had mostly dried up. This habitat and all the
other habitats of the clearing were being heavily pastured by stock.
Trap-lines totaling one hundred mouse traps, set on August 6 and
August 18, took on the first nights two prairie white-footed mice, one
house mouse, and one young thirteen-striped ground squirrel. More
white-footed mice were taken on later nights. Many ground squirrels
were taken in larger traps at the mouths of their burrows; most of
these were young of the year, and all of them were very fat in
preparation for their approaching hibernation.
_Cultivated field habitat_:
_Scalopus aquaticus machrinus._ Prairie mole. 1.
_Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii._ Prairie white-footed mouse. 23.
_Microtus ochrogaster._ Prairie vole. 1.
_Mus musculus musculus._ House mouse. 2.
_Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii._ Mearns cottontail. 2.
Cultivated fields occur throughout the region about the woods, but the
only ones in which trapping was done were wheat stubble-fields. After
the wheat was cut off these stubble-fields grew up rather thickly to
weeds. On the ground there were a number of fallen heads of wheat and
some shelled-out grain, furnishing abundant food for mice.
Seventy mouse traps set in a wheat stubble-field just north of Warren
Woods, caught on the first nights, August 13 and August 29, sixteen
prairie white-footed mice. Other white-footed mice and two house mice
were taken on later nights. Several cottontails were seen in this
field, and a few mole ridges were noted. A prairie mole was taken by
Clifford Reid in a grassy patch at the edge of a garden. In another
wheat field the Helming boys picked up a prairie vole.
_Orchard habitat_:
_Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis._ Northern white-footed
mouse. 1.
_Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus._ Pennsylvania vole. 2.
No especial study of the mammal life of the orchard was made, and no
intensive trapping was done in the habitat. However, the orchard cannot
be included in any of the other habitats recognized in the region.
A northern white-footed mouse was caught alive by the Helming boys in
an orchard on July 16. A vole was seen to cross a road in a small
orchard on July 15; a trap was set and two Pennsylvania voles secured,
one a young of the year.
_Edificarian habitat_:[1]
_Blarina brevicauda talpoides._ Short-tailed shrew. 1.
_Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis._ Northern white-footed
mouse. 2.
_Rattus norvegicus._ Norway rat. 4.
_Mus musculus musculus._ House mouse. 22.
_Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii._ Mearns cottontail. 2.
From time to time a few traps were set in the old farmhouse and in the
barn and other outbuildings of our camp. In these buildings northern
white-footed mice, Norway rats, and house mice were taken. Several
cottontails were seen in and under the old barn. The Helming boys
trapped a short-tailed shrew and also house mice and a white-footed
mouse in the basement of their house.