?02 



THE MUSEUM. 



when I have chanced to meet them 

 under the above circumstances. 



On a number of occasions I was an 

 interested witness of the gopher's mode 

 of depositing its eggs for hatching. I 

 was first led to watch the animal by 

 its strange actions. It appeared to 

 be scooping out a hole within two feet 

 of the entrance of its retreat, and di- 

 rectly in the pathway descending to it. 

 Going nearer, I saw that it was act- 

 ually doing this. After digging a hole 

 about five or six inches in depth, it 

 commenced depositing its eggs therein, 

 half a dozen in number, which had a 

 hard shell and were round and white. 



After each egg was deposited, the 

 animal would cover it with a layer of 

 sand, which it scraped into the hole ■ 

 with its fore feet; with its elephantine 

 hind feet it would then tread the earth 

 down. When the last egg was laid, it 

 carefully smoothed the place over, and 

 they were left to be hatched by the 

 sun. During the laying I carefully ap- 

 proached the spot, and was surprised 

 to find that the animal, naturally shy 

 and easily alarmed, paid no attention 

 to my presence as a spectator. 



The gopher is not the only occupant 

 of his dwelling place; he shares it with 

 two other creatures — a frog, commonly 

 called a"gopher toad"and the dreaded 

 diamond rattlesnake. The frog is oft- 

 en seen sitting at the entrance of the 

 place; on your approach, he quickly 

 disappears with one great leap down 

 the dark cavern. 



It is commonly reported that both 

 the frog and the snake are premanent 

 residents with the gopher, and I believe 

 this to be true. The serpent, the 

 largest of the genus, is quite often seen 

 coiled up on the mound near the en- 

 trance, evidently for the purpose of 



sunning itself. On many occasions I 

 have found it thus; on becoming aware 

 of my presence, his snakeship would 

 slowly and majestically crawl down 

 the hole out of sight. 



On one occasion in particular I saw 

 an uncommonly large snake of this 

 species disappear down a hole. Wish- 

 ing to secure it for preserving among 

 my other specimens, I stopped up the 

 mouth of the hole with pine knots, and 

 then went to the house of a friend for 

 a shovel. My friend became interest- 

 ed, and together we repaired to the 

 place and commenced digging. After 

 a very laborious task, we reached the 

 end of the gallery, where the rattler 

 was coiled in readiness tor one of his 

 fatal springs. We finally drew him 

 out by placing a noose over his head. 



I once had a pointer dog that con- 

 tracted the habit of searching for 

 gophers. Having found one of their 

 retreats, he would watch near by un- 

 til the gopher left it about noon to 

 feed. As soon as the animal was 

 well away from the entrance, "Doc" 

 would rush upon him, and by furious 

 barking detain him until some one 

 came and secured the "game." — /^o/>- 

 ular Science Neics. 



Giant Kites for Scientific Pur- 

 poses. 



Ten giant kites, all on one string, 

 will be flown, if possible, to the height 

 of two miles, by the Weather Bureau 

 authorities at Washington. This, of 

 course, would be many times higher 

 than any other kite has hitherto trav- 

 eled, the famous Eddy kites having 

 flown only 4,000 feet, according to la- 

 test reports. 



