open plains (Santa Rosa, N. Mex., Bailey); in grassy and weed-grown
parks among the larger junipers, pinyons, and scattering yellow
pines (Bear Spring Mountains, N. Mex., Hollister); on sand-dune
strip (east side of Pecos River, 15 miles northeast of Roswell, N.
Mex., Bailey); among _Ephedra_ patches (San Juan Valley, N. Mex.,
Birdseye); in open sandy soil along dry wash (Rio Alamosa, N. Mex.,
Goldman); on sides and crests of bare, stony hills (Mesa Jumanes,
N. Mex., Gaut); in open, arid part of the valley and stony mesas
(Carlsbad and Pecos Valley, N. Mex., Bailey); about the edges of
the plains of San Augustine and the foothills of the Datil and
Gallina Mountains, and in the Transition Zone yellow-pine forest of
the Gallina Mountains (Datil region, N. Mex., Hollister); on hard
limy ridges (Monahans, Tex., Cary).

A. Brazier Howell notes that _spectabilis_ occurs in harder soil than
does _deserti_. This observation is confirmed by others, and seems to
afford a conspicuous habitat difference between the two, for _deserti_
is typically an animal of the shifting aeolian sands.

Usually, as on the Range Reserve, the rodents are widely distributed
over a considerable area. Occasionally, as in the vicinity of Rio
Alamosa, N. Mex., as reported by Goldman, they occur only in small
colonies.


[Illustration: PLATE IV. FIG. 1.--RANGE CONDITIONS FAVORING KANGAROO RATS.

View on higher portion of Range Reserve, showing type of country where
_Dipodomys s. spectabilis_ is most abundant. Good growth of grama and
needle grasses in October, following summer growth and before grazing