BurroK's of the American A/ar)iiot. 107 



had not filled. Lo, to my surprise, I found at the side of the 

 ditch and on a level with the passage, which was about two 

 feet below the surface, a new hole. Aha ! Here it was the 

 chuck had hidden. But how was it that we saw no traces of 

 this hole when digging? When we left the ditch, the place 

 where this hole was, was a part of one continuous wall of 

 sand, without break or check to indicate that any hole was 

 here. Subsequent investigations cleared up the mystery. 



Before pursuing the specific descriptions of excavations 

 which I have made, let us pause to keep in mind, as this 

 address proceeds, certain questions which have presented 

 themselves. First : To what extent does the marmot or 

 marmots, in digging out the burrow, carry the loose dirt to 

 the entrance on the outside of the entrance? How many 

 entrances has a burrow ? Do the marmots have special stop- 

 ping places in their burrows? Are nests or lairs there pres- 

 ent? Do they dig and use only those burrows in which they 

 finally winter, or hibernate at the close of the Summer and 

 the coming of frost? Do they select any special descriptions 

 of soil? If there be any descriptions of burrows employed 

 especially for hibernation, what are they? 



The excavation of a given burrow is lettered, and the 

 letters follow in the order of time these excavations were 

 respectively made. 



EXCAVATION A. 



This burrow was located in high, level, sandy, grassy soil. 

 To the north of it, a few rods distant, lay a deep valley. To 

 the south of it a few rods lay somewhat higher land, terminat- 

 ing in a woodland. Each end of the runway terminated in an 

 opening at the surface, and each of these openings appeared 

 to be indiscriminately used for entrance to the runway and 

 exit therefrom. These openings were large and of ovular 

 form. The western opening was twenty-two inches long, the 

 eastern one seventeen inches in length. On the inner or east 

 edge of the western opening, sand, evidently taken from the 

 hole, was piled. No pile of sand was present on the west 

 edge. On both the east and west edges of the entrance B 

 piles of sand were present. Why this difference existed, I do 



