Striped Ground-squirrel 403 



about in various directions, without seeking a hole. I re- 

 member once (July i6, 1892) following one for a hundred 

 yards or more in a very crooked course, then, so far from 

 hieing earthward at last, it took to a field of standing wheat 

 and eluded me in that, giving the usual chuckle of defiance as 

 it disappeared. 



If, however, it be hotly pursued, it makes for its earth- 

 works shelter. The faint signs of runways that we see in the 

 grass are no doubt very big, plain fingerboards to it — the Gopher 

 who runs may read them. Its course, though erratic to us, is 

 always directed accurately by these road blazes to a haven, and 

 when at length it stops and looks at the pursuer he may be sure 

 that it is now at the door of its den, and on a nearer approach 

 will dive with the usual twitter of derision. 



But possessed of an uncontrollable curiosity it is sure to 

 peep out again if all be still, and it is easily taken then in a 

 noose laid over the hole where it first disappeared. 



This animal has a habit of sitting bolt upright on a mound; habit 

 it makes itself as tall as possible to look around; its paws are 

 pressed in close to its breast, and at a distance it looks like a 

 picket-pin or a stake driven into the ground. At such times 

 the uninitiated often take the Squirrel for a surveyor's land- 

 mark until a nearer approach causes the supposed stake to 

 dive into the mound. 



XAL 



It is strictly diurnal, and so partial to warmth that it is diur- 

 not often seen above ground before the sun is in full force — that 

 is, nine or ten in the morning — and long before sunset it retires 

 for the night. On dull or cloudy days it is scarcely seen at all. 

 Those that I kept in cages were put into a stupor by a tempera- 

 ture several degrees above freezing point, which however, did 

 not affect the Yellow Ground-squirrel in the least. The latter 

 may often be seen running web-footed and chill-footed over 

 the snow-drifts in spring time, but I never knew the Striped one 

 guilty of such indiscretion. 



The present species rises from its winter's sleep nearly 



