Part 2

Sorex merriami leucogenys Osgood Merriam's Shrew

Specimen: MV 7898/507, head of Navajo Canyon (locality No. 7 in Fig. 2), October 21, 1954.

This was the third reported specimen of the rare Merriam's shrew from Colorado (Rodeck and Anderson, 1956:436).

Sorex vagrans obscurus Merriam Wandering Shrew

Specimens examined.--Total, 8: Morfield Canyon, 7600 ft., 75972, 75973; Upper Well, Prater Canyon, 7575 ft., 69235-69238; 1/4 mi. N Middle Well, Prater Canyon, 7500 ft., 69239-69240.

The specimens from Prater Canyon were trapped in the grasses and sedges of the meadow comprising the floor of the canyon. The ground and vegetation were dry at the time of capture, September 2, 3, and 4, 1956. Microtus montanus was the only other species taken in the mouse traps in the sedge and grass. Five of the six specimens from Prater Canyon are young, having slightly worn teeth; the sixth is an old adult male the teeth of which are so much worn that only a few traces of the reddish-brown pigment remain. His testes were 5 mm. long. These specimens are from an area of intergradation between S. v. obscurus and S. v. monticola. The length of the maxillary tooth-row in these six specimens averaged 6.23 (6.1-6.4) millimeters. Comparison with average measurements of 6.6 and 6.8 in samples of S. v. obscurus, and of 5.9 in a sample of S. v. monticola (Findley, 1955:64, 65) reveals the intermediate size of the specimens from the Mesa Verde. The gap between habitat suitable for Sorex vagrans on the Mesa Verde and the nearest record-station for S. v. monticola to the south and west in the Chuska Mountains is wider than the gap between the Mesa Verde and the nearest record-station for S. v. obscurus to the north and east, one mile west of Mancos, 75971, 7000 feet, or at Silverton. On geographic grounds the specimens from the Mesa Verde are referred to S. v. obscurus. The two specimens from Morfield Canyon were trapped on November 4, 1957, and are grayish above and silvery below. Their pelage contrasts markedly with the dorsally brownish and ventrally buffy pelage of the September-taken specimens from Prater Canyon.

Myotis californicus stephensi Dalquest California Myotis

Specimens examined.---Total, 3: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69243, 69246, August 21 and 22, 1956; 4505 Denver Museum, within the Park (exact locality not recorded), R.L. Landberg, July 27, 1931.

The specimens from Rock Springs were an adult male and a non-pregnant adult female. Both were shot over the road in pinyon and juniper. The specimens are referred to M. c. stephensi on account of their paleness, stephensi being paler than M. c. californicus from east of Mesa Verde in Colorado.

Myotis evotis evotis (H. Allen) Long-eared Myotis

Specimens examined.--Total, 4: Chickaree Draw, Prater Canyon, 8200 ft., MV 7841/507, probably in the summer of 1935; Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69241, August 23, 1956, and 69249, August 18, 1956; Museum, Headquarters, 6950 ft., 69251, August 24, 1956.

An adult male (69241) was taken in a Japanese mist net stretched fifteen feet across a dirt road where it entered the stand of pinyon and juniper at the south edge of the burn on Wetherill Mesa between 7:20 and 8:30 p.m.; at the same place and time I captured five other bats of four species: Myotis thysanodes, Myotis subulatus, Eptesicus fuscus, and Plecotus townsendii. A piece of mist net attached to an aluminum hoop-net two and one half feet in diameter was used to good advantage in capturing bats rebounding from the larger mist net, and in frightening bats into the larger net when they approached closely. An adult male (69249) was shot at 7:20 p.m. while flying six to eight feet from the ground between pinyon trees up to 20 feet high; the air temperature was 70° F. A female (69251) was found seemingly exhausted on the floor in the museum at Park Headquarters in the daytime, and was immature as indicated by small size, open basicranial sutures, unworn teeth, weakly ossified zygoma, and open epiphyseal sutures of phalanges.

Myotis subulatus melanorhinus (Merriam) Small-footed Myotis

Specimens examined.--Total, 8: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69242, 69244, 69245, 69247, 69248, August 21 to 23, 1956; Hospital, Park Headquarters, MV 7886/507, , July 12, 1939; Headquarters, MV 7877/507, [Female], August 30, 1938; 4504 Denver Museum, within the Park (exact locality not recorded), R.L. Landberg, July 27, 1931.

The specimens from Rock Springs are two adult males that were shot, and one adult male, one adult female, and one young male that were netted at the place described in the account of Myotis evotis. The three adult males are near the average color of M. s. melanorhinus, and distinctly darker than the Myotis californicus from the Mesa Verde. In the female the pelage is paler and brighter, and the ears and membranes are darker, than in M. californicus.

Myotis thysanodes thysanodes Miller Fringed Myotis

Specimen: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69250, ad. [Female], August 23, 1956; taken in net as noted in account of Myotis evotis.

Myotis volans interior Miller Long-legged Myotis

Specimen: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69252, ad. [Female], August 21, 1956; shot over road.

Eptesicus fuscus pallidus Young Big Brown Bat

Specimen: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69253, ad. [Female], August 23, 1956; taken in net as noted in account of Myotis evotis.

Plecotus townsendii pallescens (Miller) Townsend's Big-eared Bat

Specimens examined.--Total, 5: Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69254, ad. [Female], non-pregnant, August 23, 1956; Square Tower House, 6700 ft., 69255-69258, March, 1955.

The specimen from Rock Springs was taken in a net as noted in the account of Myotis evotis. The specimens from Square Tower House were obtained by D. Watson in a dimly lighted chamber formed by fracture in the rocks at the bottom of the canyon wall, above the talus slope. The bats were suspended from the wall of the chamber, which was at least six feet wide and fifteen feet long.

Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana (Saussure) Brazilian Free-tailed Bat

Specimens examined.--Total, 2: Cliff Palace, 6800 ft., MV 7862/507 and 7863/507, males, both collected by A.E. Borell, on August 23, 1936.

Lepus californicus texianus Waterhouse Black-tailed Jackrabbit

The black-tailed jackrabbit inhabits the Montezuma Valley to the north of the Mesa Verde and the Mancos Valley to the northeast, and has been seen occasionally on the top of the Mesa according to reports with date and locality noted in the files at the Park for the years 1941, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1950, and 1951. In 1942 four observations were made, in 1950 and 1951 two observations were recorded each year, and in other years only one observation was recorded each year. Nine observations are for Chapin Mesa south of Far View; only two observations are for higher elevations on the North Rim.