Specimens examined.—Total, 42: North end Mesa Verde National Park, 7000 ft., 76220–76232; Far View Ruins, 7700 ft., 69326–69327, 79222, and 8 uncatalogued specimens in preservative; Far View Point, 76532–76535; Far View House, 7700 ft., 74416 MVZ; ½ mi. NNW Rock Springs, 7500 ft., 69429–69430; Rock Springs, 7400 ft., 69431–69435; Park Well, 7450 ft., 69428; Headquarters, MV 7882/507; back of Museum, MV 7879/507, 7880/507, 7881/507; Square Tower House, 6700 ft., 69438.
In August three females were pregnant or lactating, or both. None of seven adult females taken in November was pregnant.
Neotoma cinerea arizonae Merriam
Bushy-tailed Wood Rat
Specimen: Head of Prater Canyon, MV 7873/507. Another, in the Denver Museum, from Spruce Tree House, was reported by Finley (1958:270).
Neotoma cinerea prefers vertical crevices in high cliffs but occupies other areas.
Neotoma mexicana inopinata Goldman
Mexican Wood Rat
Specimens examined.—Total, 10: Headquarters, MV 7890/507 and probably 7861/507, 74421 MVZ; Spruce Tree Lodge, 6950 ft., 34802–34803; Spruce Tree House, 74419–74420 MVZ; Square Tower House, MV 7869/507; Cliff Palace, 74422 MVZ; Balcony House, MV 7868/507.
The Mexican wood rat is the most common species of wood rat on the Mesa Verde. The two specimens from Spruce Tree Lodge obtained by R.B. Finley on September 2, 1949, are young individuals.
Another species of the genus, the white-throated wood rat, Neotoma albigula, may occur within the Park, since three specimens (34757–34759) from the Mesa Verde were trapped on September 15, 1949, by R.B. Finley, approximately 4½ miles south of the Park [6 mi. E, 17 mi. S Cortez, 5600 ft.—south of the area shown in [Figure 2]]. Finley (1958:450) stated that at that locality he trapped Neotoma mexicana [No. 34801], that N. albigula was perhaps more common there than N. mexicana, that dens of N. albigula were more common than those of N. mexicana under large rocks in the talus on the south slope of the Mesa, and that dens of N. mexicana seemed to be more numerous in crevices of ledges in the bedrock and cliffs.