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grape and smilax vines, and the thorny, dead, lower branches of the tree provided additional shelter. The house was composed of sticks and twigs, mostly of osage orange, with spines still present; slabs of bark, wood chips, and dry leaves also made up part of it. Materials on the exterior of the house appeared old and weathered, but the house was conical and solid. Seven fresh corn cobs were on the house or near its base, suggesting that corn from the nearby field had figured importantly in the diet of the occupant. A well beaten path led from the base of the house alongside the log, to a large cottonwood tree 15 feet from the house. This evidence that the house was occupied was verified by live-trapping the occupant. Late in 1948, also, the house was occupied by another individual, but seemingly was deserted for a period of months thereafter. No. 7. On upper part of north slope where a hickory seven inches in diameter had fallen across an old sunken log approximately one foot in diameter. The house, composed mainly of hickory twigs 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch in diameter, mixed with bark, wood chips, and leaves, was partly decayed, with no fresh sign and was in a thicket of greenbrier, saplings of hickory and hackberry, and cut tops of hickories. The top was flattened to less than four inches above the level of the supporting hickory log. There were large cavities in the side of the house. When first discovered in the autumn of 1948, this house was occupied by a subadult female rat, but she moved away permanently, and the house had been deserted for approximately a year when these observations were recorded. No. 8. In middle of northwest slope, in thick branches of broken top of a black oak. This house had become flattened by decay and settling to form a mound approximately one foot high and five feet in diameter. Only the top protruded through the carpet of dry leaves. Once well protected and partly concealed by the branches and twigs of the oak top, this house was now fully exposed by the disintegration of the top. The house consisted chiefly of oak twigs. In October, 1948, a woodrat was live-trapped at this house, but probably it was a wanderer. The house had then already undergone much deterioration. _Natural Enem
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