180 



I,OTES ON CALIFORNIA ANIMALS. 



iug iiiorc than a year's residence. It was not met with in the cuast 

 region. 



Fiiiuily LAGOMYID.E. Pikas. 



Lagoniys princeps (liicli. ). Xorth jlmcricati Pika : LUih Chief Ilurc. 



I (lid not meet with this interestiii];^' animal on Mount Shasta, although 

 I have reason to believe it exists there, from a statement made by a 

 resident of Siskiyou County. I found it, however, in many places on 

 the eastern and western sloi)es of Mount Lassen, where it inhabited 

 roek ledf^es, or, more correctly, })laces whe'."e lar^ij^e masses of rock had 

 slipped from hijiher positions, formini^ rock slides. It was especially 

 abundant in the vicinity of Morgan*^ Si)rings, on the western side of the 

 mountains, at an elevation of about G,000 feet. The Pikas did not appear 

 to come out from their retreats until late in the day, at least 1 did not 

 hear them until towards ev^eiiing', and then their sharp s(jueaks came 

 from all parts of the great heap of loose rocks where 1 used to watcli 

 for them. They are as good ventriloquists as locusts and katydids, 

 and 1 have sometimes stared at the rocks from which their tiny shrieks 

 arose until my eyes ached before catching sight of one. Indeed, if I 

 could locate one by the sound in half an hour's time, so as to shoot it, I 

 considered myself fortunate. 



This deceptiveness m their cries, together with their inconsi)icuous 

 color and diminutive size, rendered them altogether quite diliicult to 

 obtain, for they never went near my traps. 



They were not observed to sit upright like chipmunks, as they are 

 said to do elsewhere, but scpiatted mouse-like upon some stone or 

 crouched beneath its shelter. They are decidedly mouse-like in their 

 actions. 



