tions the difficulty that has been experienced in
protecting aesthetically desirable trees around cliff dwellings. Perhaps
in a local area removal of porcupines is sometimes warranted, but
control of the porcupine seems undesirable to me, as a general policy,
because one purpose of a National Park is to preserve natural conditions
and that implies naturally occurring changes.

What is needed is continued careful study of the ecological
relationships of animals and of plants. National parks provide, to the
extent that they are not disturbed or "controlled," especially favorable
places for studies of this sort.

Mus musculus subsp. House Mouse

_Specimens examined._--Total, 7: North end Mesa Verde National
Park, 7000 ft, 76290; west bank Mancos River northeast side Mesa
Verde National Park, 76291-76296.

Canis latrans mearnsi Merriam Coyote

_Specimens examined._--Total, 3: 69472, skull only of a young
individual, found dead at the top of the bank of the Mancos River,
1-1/2 mi. E Waters Cabin, 6400 ft., August 29, 1956, probably
killed by man; ad. [Male], 76298, taken by J.R. Alcorn, November
10, 1957, on the top of the Mesa at Square Tower House; and skin
and skull, MV 7858/507, without data.

Tracks or scats of the coyote were seen in all parts of the Park
visited. Coyotes range throughout the area. On September 3, 1956, 35
coyote scats were found on the dirt roads in Prater and Morfield canyons
above 7300 feet elevation and on the road crossing the divide between
these canyons. Probably none of these scats was more than a month old.
Coyote tracks were seen at some of the fresher scats. Scats associated
with fox tracks and scats of small size were not picked up.
Nevertheless, a few of the scats studied may have been those of foxes.
Judging from the contents of scats that were certainly from foxes, the
effect of inadvertent inclusion of fox scats would be to elevate the
percentage of scats containing berries (but not more than five
percentage points). Each scat was broken up and the percentage of scats
containing each of the following items was noted (figures are to the
nearest per cent). Remains of deer occurred in 48 per cent of scats,
gooseberries (_Ribes_) in 34 per cent, porcupines in 29 per cent,
insects in 11 per cent, birds in 11 per cent, unidentified hair in 9 per
cent, and unidentified material in 6 per cent. One scat (3 per cent)
contained an appreciable