comparatively large hole or entrance at the summit, or in the side. The whole
surface, but more particularly the summit, is trodden down and compacted, like a
■well-worn pathway. The hole descends, vertically, to the depth of one or two feet,
whence it continues in an oblique direction downward. A single burrow may have
many occupants. We have seen seven or eight individuals sitting upon one
mound. The burrows occur usually at intervals of about twenty feet. They
delight to sport about the entrance of their burrows in pleasant weather. At
the approach of danger they retreat to their dens, or when its proximity is not
too immediate, they remain, barking and flourishing their tails, on the edge of
their holes, or sitting erect, to reconnoitre. When fired upon in this situation,
they never fail to escape, or, if killed, instantly to fall into their burrows, where
they are beyond the reach of the hunter. As they pass the winter in a lethargie
sleep, they lay up no provision of food for that season, but defend themselves from
its rigours by accurately closing up the entrance of the burrow. The further
arrangements, which the Prairie dog makes for its comfort and security, are well
worthy of attention. He constructs for himself a very neat globular cell, with fin?
dry grass, having an aperture at top, large enough to admit the finger, and so
compactly formed, that it might almost be rolled over the floor without injury.”
D E S C R I P T IO N .
“ The animal is of a light, dirty reddish-brown colour above, which is intermixed with some
gray, also a few black hairs. This coating of hair is of a dark lead colour, next the skin, then
bluish-white, then light reddish, then gray at the tip. The lower parts of the body are of a dirty
white colour. The head is wide and depressed above, with large eyes ; the iris is dark brown;
the ears are short and truncated; the whiskers of moderate length, and black; a few bristle?
project from the anterior portion of the superior orbit of the eye, and a few also from a wart on
the cheek ; the nose is somewhat sharp and compressed; the hair of the anterior legs, and
that of the throat and neck, is not dusky at the base. All the feet are five-toed, covered with
very short hair, and armed with rather long, black nails: the exterior one of the fore-foot
nearly attains the base of the next, and the middle one is half an inch in length; the thumb is
armed with a conic nail, three-tenths of an inch in length ; the tail is rather short, banded
with brown near the tip, and the hair, excepting near the body, is not plumbeous at the base.” f
D i m e x s i o x s
Of the above specimen.
Inche s. Lines.
Length of head and body . _ • • • • . 1 6 0
,, the tail . . » » « * • 2 9
„ the tail, including the fur . 3 4
Lieutenant Pike’s description, as far as it goes, agrees nearly with the above. “ They have a
dark brown colour, except their bellies, which are white; their tails are not so long as those of
the gray squirrels, but are shaped the same.” In page 93 of the first volume of Lewis and
Clark’s narrative, where the minimal is termed petit chien, it is stated that “ The head resembles
the squirrel in every respect, except that the ear is shorter; the tail like that of the ground
squirrel; the toe-nails are long; the fur fine, and the long hair is gray.” In the third
volume, where it is called barking squirrel, the following particulars are mentioned: ‘‘This
animal commonly weighs three pounds; the colour is an uniform, bright brick-red and gray, and
the former predominates; the under side of the neck and belly are lighter than other parts
of the body; the legs are short, and the breast and shoulders wide; the head is short and
muscular, and terminates more bluntly, wider, and flatly than the common squirrel ; the ears
are short and have the appearance of amputation ; the jaw is furnished with a pouch to contain
his food, but not so large as that o f the common squirrel* ,* each foot has five toes, and the
two outer ones are much shorter than those in the centre. The two inner toes of the fore-feet
are long, sharp, and well adapted to digging and scratching. From the extremity of the nose
to the end of the tail, this animal measures one foot and five inches, of which the tail occupies
four inches,”
Of the five preceding Marmots, the Arctomys Empetra has a slight folding of the
lining of the mouth, forming the rudiment of a cheek-pouch; the A. pruinosus
has not been examined; the presence or absence of cheek-pouches in the A.
brachyurus is not noted by its describers; the “ ample” cheek-pouches of the
A. monax rest on the authority of Dr. Godman; and those of the A. Ludovicianus
are mentioned by Lewis and Clark alone, whilst their having escaped the notice of
so accurate an observer as Mr. Say, excites some doubt of their existence. The
Spermophiles, described in the following pages, have all cheek-pouches, which,
indeed, furnish the only character that distinguishes the sub-genus from the other
marmots. The solitary mode of life attributed to the Spermophiles, and some
other peculiarities, apply principally to A. citillus, and so many species have
been added since M. F. Cuvier first described the genus Spermophilus, that its
characters require to be re-modelled.
* I t is not easy to divine what the u Common Squirrel ” is which has ample cheek-pouches.