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• 196f~) . Their food mostly consists of bulbs, roots and stems of acr.;atic <br />vegetation. Muskrat habitat in the study area is li~~~~ttl to the msrshy <br />area in the riE~aiian habitat; acccrdin•71y, their distribution and abundance <br />is limited on the study area. <br />Three G~utnison's prairie dog towns are located on the study area (Pppendix <br />A, >+ap 2). These twins were for^erly one large toom but were divided by <br />road construction and mining activities (personal conrwLication, May 31, <br />'_979, ?3~y I<aro). A total of 16 adult prairie dogs were observed during a <br />black-footed ferret survey of these towns in late Nay, 1979. Clu+nison's <br />prairie dogs inhabit open grassy and brushy areas at high elevations, <br />and are restricted in distribution to south-eastern Colorado (Lechleitner <br />1969). <br />AVIFAUNA <br />Passerine Birds. Breeding and resident wintering passerines in the Nucla <br />• study area were surveyed during early June, 1979 and January,1980 along 0.5 lap <br />transects placed within major vegetation types represented in the study area. <br />The census technique was designed to quantify passerine abundance; however, <br />all avian species, including raptors and game birds, observed along the <br />transects were counted. The results of the breeding and wintering bird <br />sur~,~eys are provided on computer print-outs in Appendix B, Part 2 for each <br />of the five vegetation types sampled (grassland pasture, upland sagebrush, <br />~urioer, alfalfa field, and riparian). These print-outs provide relative <br />abundance indices (number of individuals/km) and macrohabitat affinities for <br />e=_ch species enchuntered and Shannon-I4einer species diversity indices for <br />each habitat sampled. A list of all avian species positively identified <br />For the Nucla study area during this and previous studies is provided in <br />Table 1. <br />Two major topics are considered in the discussion of breeding and wintering <br />passerine birds. First, the relative importance to avifauna of each habitat <br />type sampled is described. Determination of importance focuses on three <br />. parameters: species diversity, cromposition, and abundance. Second, the <br />occ~.~rrence, distribution and abundance of important n~sserine species is <br />discussed. L~por-cant species are defined as those with a high relative <br />_?7_ <br />~uN ~ i ~eeo <br />