35 he saw a live beaver in the
Huron River near Ypsilanti. This is the last record for the county.

_Lepus americanus americanus._ Snowshoe Hare.--This hare was formerly
common over all the southern peninsula of Michigan. In Washtenaw County
it persisted for a long time in the tamarack bogs, but when these were
mostly drained or destroyed the hares became extinct. It was last taken
in Steere's Swamp, four miles south of Ann Arbor, in 1875. One was taken
in a swamp near Whitmore Lake in 1890. L. D. Watkins, of Manchester,
reports shooting one in a large swamp near Pleasant Lake in the fall of
1907.

_Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii._ Mearns Cottontail.--The cottontail was
formerly common only in the southern part of Michigan, but it now occurs
over all the cultivated area of the Lower Peninsula. It has increased
with and followed the civilization that furnished an abundance of food
and destroyed many of its enemies.

I have several times found nests in meadows and cultivated fields. The
nest is built in a deep form and is lined with fur from the mother's
body and fine grass. The young are completely hidden when left by the
mother. April 16, 1920, I found a nest containing five young in a
stubblefield at Portage Lake. The young were well covered with hair, but
the eyes were not open. April 20, 1920, I found another nest containing
young on the lawn of an unoccupied house near the shore of Portage Lake.
The number of young was not determined. May 5 the young were gone and
the nest was deserted. May 16, 1920, L. R. Dice saw four young
cottontails with their eyes open in the possession of a boy. They were
taken from a nest near Ann Arbor.

About May 10, some years ago, I saw a cottontail jump into and swim
across Mill Creek in this county. The animal was not pursued nor driven
in any way into the water. Sometimes when caught alive the cottontail
utters a loud, shrill cry.

_Bison bison bison._ American Bison.--According to the reports of the
early explorers, this large mammal, in the eighteenth century, occupied,
or at least visited, the southern border of the state of Michigan.
Although we have no record of its occurrence in this county, its remains
have been found just over the western border of the county by L. D.
Watkins, who in 1835 picked up three skulls near Norvell, Jackson
County (Township 4 south, Range 2 east, Section 22). Two of these skulls
were sent to Hillsdale College, where one still remains, though the