Richardson Ground-squirrel 



381 



brown, peppered like the back; below, clear pale sienna; fin- 

 ished with a blackish edging, which again has a broad tipping 

 of pale yellow. My specimens taken at Turtle Mountain late 

 in April are much paler in general colour, nearly white below. 



The sexes are alike. 



When seen alive it is like a pale yellow Squirrel with a 

 rather short tail, that it jerks and shakes upward every few 

 seconds when watching an intruder. From this it gets its 

 name, Flickertail. 



It has no recognized races. 



Life-history. 



The Richardson Ground-squirrel is a characteristic in- range 

 habitant of the Saskatche- 

 wan Campestrian faunal 

 area (Map 19). In Mani- 

 toba it is found on all the 

 true prairies of the second 

 steppe, as shown on Map 

 20; but it enters also the 

 upper part of the Red River 

 Valley proper, along the 

 east slope of the Pembina 

 Mountain. At Morden I 

 found it abundant, also 

 thence north-eastward as 

 far as Myrtle. It extends 



in small numbers northward to Russell and the Gilbert Plains, 

 on the west of Riding Mountain. 



Map 2c 



•Distribution of the Richardson Ground-squirrel 

 in Manitoba. 



This is strictly a prairie animal. 



It is never seen in or envi- 

 near the woods; its favourite localities are high rolling lands ment 

 of stiff or gravelly clay, but prairie ridges of any kind are ac- 

 ceptable locations. It is as fond of cultivated fields as its 

 striped relative is of the virgin prairie. Its burrows are so deep 

 that the plough does them no harm but what it can repair in 



