the feet, especially the hind ones, distinctly semi-palmated. He also observes,
that the width of the auditory opening seems, at first sight, ill adapted for the
subterranean life which the Wood-chuck leads, but that it possesses the power of
closing it accurately.
D E S C R I P T IO N .
[Extracted from Godman’s Nat. Hist.}
“ The body of the Maryland Marmot is about the* size o f that of a rabbit, and re covered
by long, rusty-brown Hair, generally gray at the tips;, the face .is, of a.pale, bluish ash-colour.
The ears are short, but broad, and as if they had been cropped at their superior edges ; the
tail is about half the length of the body, and is covered with, dark-brown hairs, somewhat
bushy at its extremity. The feet and claws: are- black; the claws are long and sharp."
Warden says that, in Vermont, the largest weigh eleven pounds ; but that m the southern
states they, attain a greater size.
•f* 5,. A rctomys. (S permophilus?) L udovicianus. (Ord.)
The Wistonwish.
Genus Arctomys. Gmelin.. Sub-genus Sqermoghilus. F.Cuvier. -
Prairie* dog. Gaso5 Journal, p. 50. An: 1807-
Prairie dog,-.or Wistonwish. Journey, p. 207- An. 1811. . . „„ n- . &
Petit chieri, Frame dog, Barking squind,. Burrowing squirrel. Lewis and Clark, PP- 93’ 9 ’ x
Barking; squirrel. Ie®m,.vo1:. iiilp . 38 (bufcuttt. the. “ burrowing squirrel; mentioned in: the same volu
V . An. 1814» - ' I t J
** Arctomys*Iindoviciantrs; Orit; Guthrie's Geog:, vol. ii. p. 302. An. 18 5. (
Cynomys. sofcialis,et cinereus: “ Bafinksaue-S-ma-lt z . Am. Month. Mag, Am. 1817-
JDesmarest, Mamm.r f>. 314. -
Monas? Missouriensisi Warden; United States^ volt i. p. 225? An.-T8l9.
Arctomys Ludovitiamis. Sxy,JLong’s Journey, vol. ii.p. 334. Harla-n, Fauna, p. 160.:
Arctomys latrans. Harlan, Faund, p. 306.
TheBrairife Marmot. Gqdman, Nat. Hist., .vol. ii. p. 11.4.
A , STEB*ovinrmir<-L«»i*iOTusl super eeroihm pMs-mgris interspersS: rubier sordOT M m , ungue poBican.coniet>
mdjusculo-, cauiUi brermapicem versus-fusoo torqwatai - ■ • ■ ' -
Wistonwish, Raving cheek-pouches ? hack reddish-brown mixed with gray and blaek soiled white belly., a rat er
W e conicalithnmh-nail ; and a short tail bandfed with brown near-the tip.
This animal,, which has; acquired so: many appellations since the year leO?,
inhabits-the banks: of tiie Missouri and its tributaries. The best account of its
babitfe are given by Lieutenant) Pike, and“ Captains Lewis and © ar . .
Rafinesque,,considering tl\e petit chien, briefly noticed by-Lewis and'©fork, m their
-first “volume, to be distinct from the barking squirrel, more fully described in their
third volume, drew np from their notices the characters of his Cynomys sodalis, and
.C. cinerms. Dr. Harlan has given the name of Arctomys latrans to the Cynomys
sodalis, at the same time treating of the Arctomys .Imdoviciamts as a .separate
species. An attentive perusal of Lewis and Clark’s narrative, however, has led to
the conclusion, that, in the passages cited above, these travellers speak only of one
species of marmot under a variety of names *; and Mr. Say seems, also, to have
been of this opinion. Lewis and Clark, vol. 1., page 246, mention a small
animal, about one-third of the size of their Missouri burrowing squirrel, but otherwise
closely resembling i t They could not obtain a specimen, and its characters,
therefore, have not been recorded by them; but from their vicinity at the time to
the plains of the Saskatchewan, from the general colour of the animal, and from
their description of its earths, it most probably was the tawny marmot (No. 52)
«f fliis work. The genus Cynomys of M. Rafinesque corresponds to the Spermo-
philus of M. F. Cuvier; but the characters given by the latter author are more
precise and more skilfully drawn up. The following account of: the Wistonwish is
quoted from Mr. Say, whose description was taken chiefly from a well-prepared
specimen, presented by Lewis and Clark to the Philadelphia museum. It seems
to differ from other American marmots, in the length of its thumb-nail, and to
approach in that respect to the A. frilvus of Lichtenstein.
| “ This interesting and sprightly little animal has received the name of Prairie
dog, from a fancied resemblance of its warning cry, to the hurried barking of a
small dog. The sound may he imitated, by the pronunciation of the syllable,
‘ click, chek, chek 1’ in a sibilated manner, and in rapid succession, by propelling
the breath between the tip of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. As particular
places are in general occupied by the burrows of these animals, such assemblages
of dwellings are denominated Prairie-dog milages, by the hunters. They vary
widely in extent,—some being confined to an area of a few miles, others are
bounded by a circumference of many miles. Only one of these villages occurred
between thé Missouri and the Prairie towns; thence to the Platte they were much
more numerous. The entrance to the burrow is at the summit of the little mound
of earth, brought up by the animal during the progress of the excavation below.
These mounds are sometimes inconspicuous, hut generally somewhat elevated
above the common surface, tho.ugh. rarely to the height of eighteen inches. Their
form is that of a truncated cone, on a* base of two or three feet, perforated by a
* The-Burrowing Squirrel of the Columbia {Arctomys brachyurus of Dr. Harlan, and of this work) is described, by
them, in their third volume, as different from the Missouri animal, mentioned also by the name of burrowing squirrel
in their first volume.
X 2