Striped Spermophile 



Apart from inhabiting the same region, and the fact that 

 young prairie dogs form an acceptable article of diet for both 

 the other members of the triumvirate, they have little to do with 

 one another. The owls dig holes for themselves, though they 

 may not be averse to appropriating a prairie dog's burrow, just 

 as their relatives of the woodland will use an old flicker's hole 

 or a crow's nest. The rattlesnake, too, will no doubt take refuge 

 in a burrow of either of the others, though to the discomfiture 

 of the rightful owner and the probable loss of its offspring. The 

 stories of the peaceful cohabitation of the beast, bird and reptile 

 are, however, the result of a lively imagination. 



Striped Spermophile 

 Spermophilus tridecemlineatus (Mitchell) 



Also called Striped Gopher. 



Length. 10 inches. 



Description. Back striped with six buff bands and seven wider 

 brown bands, each of the latter containing a row of small 

 white spots; middle bands running from the top of the head 

 to the tail, others shorter; lower parts dull buff; tail rather 

 short, flat and rather bushy. 



Range. Plains of the Saskatchewan; south to Texas and east to 

 southern Wisconsin and Michigan, nearly the whole of Illinois, 

 northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio. 



The spermophiles, closely allied to the chipmunks, form as it 

 were the connecting link between the squirrels and the marmots. 

 They are restricted to the prairie regions of the West, where there 

 are a number of species, two of which cross the Mississippi. 

 The best known and most widely distributed form is the striped 

 Spermophile or "striped gopher" as it is also called. Vernon 

 Bailey in his report upon these animals says: "Throughout the 

 prairies of the Mississippi Valley the little striped Spermophile is a 

 familar object as it darts through the grass to its hole or is seen 

 standing upright on its hind feet, straight and motionless as a 

 stick. With its short ears, smoothly rounded head, and the fore- 

 feet drooping at its sides, there is no point about its outline to 

 catch the eye, and at a little distance it is impossible to dis- 



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