Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/175

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Some animals live, either by preference or necessity, in the forest; some live in meadows or prairies; some prefer uplands and some swamps; others must live in the water. A few are adapted to life in a variety of situations.

By far the greater part of North America east of the Mississippi "River was at one time forest clad. The trees have been cleared away from this region until now they are limited to scattered tracts a fraction of a square mile in area with a few larger forests still more widely separated.

The species that live chiefly in the forest include among the larger kinds elk, moose, caribou, Virginia and western black-tailed deer, and black and grizzly bears. Smaller forest-dwelling species include several kinds of lynxes, the fisher, marten, Canada porcupine, several species of squirrels, as well as many birds, snakes and lesser animals. Species that live habitually in the open include the bison, antelope, coyote, jack rabbit, prairie dog, many kinds of mice, birds, snakes and smaller creatures. Among the species that get along equally well in the forest and open country, we may notice the red fox, certain mice and birds, woodchuck and chipmunk and there are many others.

It will require no argument to show that all of the forest-inhabiting species I have named are diminishing and if space permitted this could be shown for nearly every forest-loving species concerning which we have the data to form an opinion.

Turning to the plains species, we find the bison and antelope have diminished because of their large size, economic value and gregarious habits. The jack rabbit is also diminishing in regions thickly settled and the prairie dog has been found so destructive that measures have been systematically undertaken to exterminate it.

The animals mentioned above, although the most conspicuous ones of the prairies, comprise only a fraction of one per cent, of the fauna of that region, and when we consider the remainder we find many animals that, if not everywhere increasing, are at least extending their range. There is abundant proof that the "cotton-tail" rabbit of the prairies, which is a different species from that of the Atlantic Coast states, has in recent times extended its range eastward to Ontario and western New York. Some of the native field mice and ground-squirrels are working eastward.

The Harris sparrow, a typical bird of the western prairies, was reported from Indiana a few years ago for the first time. The Dickcissel, field sparrow, chipping sparrow and many others have certainly become more widely distributed in the central states than they were half a century ago. Some of the meadow butterflies are becoming more