. The Canadian field-naturalist. 326 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 85 A Range Extension for the Bushy-tailed Wood Rat In Alberta, the range of the bushy-tailed wood rat, Neotomu cinerea drummondii (Richardson), has been defined by Soper (1948 and 1964), and by Hall and Kelson (1959) whose nomenclature is followed here. The northern-most six records given by Soper (1964) are shown on the accom- panying map. Records from Hines Creek and Dunvegan are both based on verbal reports. The other four records [and a fifth (unpubhshed) near Spirit River, Alberta] are dependent on observa- tions by b
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 326 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 85 A Range Extension for the Bushy-tailed Wood Rat In Alberta, the range of the bushy-tailed wood rat, Neotomu cinerea drummondii (Richardson), has been defined by Soper (1948 and 1964), and by Hall and Kelson (1959) whose nomenclature is followed here. The northern-most six records given by Soper (1964) are shown on the accom- panying map. Records from Hines Creek and Dunvegan are both based on verbal reports. The other four records [and a fifth (unpubhshed) near Spirit River, Alberta] are dependent on observa- tions by biologists, rather than on specimens (Soper, pers. comm.). In July, 1970, J. D. Love noticed nest-building activity, that could only be credited to a wood rat, in a weather proof poultry shelter and adja- cent garage, at a long-abandoned homestead 2 miles east of Brownvale on No. 2 highway. I saw two nests there on August 25, both made from stems of grass, herbs and twigs; and both containing pebbles, bits of paper and other debris. The characteristic wood rat odour was noticeable. Mr. Love had trapped a single adult male wood rat about two weeks earlier and had discarded it. No other rats seemed to be present. He was able to recover the carcass and the skull is now lodged in the National Museum of Canada, and has catalogue number NMC 37353. My identification was confirmed by Mr. P. Youngman, Curator of Mammals at the Museum. The position of this new record is 32 miles northeast of Soper's verbal report at Dunvegan and about 31 miles southeast of the record at Hines Creek. It is over 130 miles northeast of the nearest record supported by specimens known. to Soper, Unlike other northeastern records, the present wood rat was 10 miles north of the Peace River in cultivated agricultural country with fre- quent patches of aspen forest rather than in a river valley. I would like to thank Mr. J. D. Love of Brown- vale, Alberta for drawing this matter to my attention, and Dr. J. D. Sope
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