Buttonbush-swamp habitat:
Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis. Northern white-footed mouse. 8.
Mus musculus musculus. House mouse. 2.
A large buttonbush swamp occurs in the preserve just south of the Galien River, but around this the native trees have been cut away and over its accessible edges it has been heavily pastured, so that it is not at all in its natural conditions, and it was not trapped. In the unpastured flood-plain north of the river there is another buttonbush swamp of several hundred yards extent. This latter area was the one selected for study.
In this typical swamp the buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, is practically the only plant present. It thickly covers the area with its tangled branches, which grow to heights of four to ten feet. The water had drained away in August, leaving the ground bare, though still wet and soft. Under the cover of the buttonbush there is no herbage whatever, and upon the ground there are only a few decaying logs and a few small sticks, which often carry a light growth of moss.
Around the edges of this swamp there is a narrow belt of thick herbage, closely encroached upon by the typical forest of the flood-plain.
Fifty mouse traps set in this habitat took eight northern white-footed mice and two house mice the first night, August 5.
Shore habitat:
Procyon lotor lotor. Raccoon. Tracks.
Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis. Northern white-footed mouse. 1.