Striped Ground-squirrrel 409 



or the weather too bad for it to forage successfully — that is, 

 during the cold, wet spells in summer, unseasonable rains in 

 autumn, and, above all, in early spring time. Confirmation of 

 this is found in the following from my Carberry Journal of 

 1882. "May 2, I ploughed up the storehouse of a Striped- 

 gopher. It contained two pints of wheat and one of buck- 

 wheat in separate piles." 



The species is, moreover, obliged to lay up more than it 

 needs, to offset the pilferings of the parasitic Mice mentioned 

 later. 



So far as known, however, it never drinks. As with many never 

 small rodents, the moisture of the vegetable food is sufficient 

 for its needs, so that the story of the well or burrow running down 

 to water is a myth. I kept a number of the Ground-squirrels of 

 both kinds in a cage all summer, but they never paid any at- 

 tention to the water supplied them, so we ceased providing it. 

 A very hot spell continued for a week, and it was suggested 

 that the Ground-squirrels might now enjoy a drink. A saucer- 

 ful was put in. Four would not touch it, two sniffed at it, 

 wetting their whiskers slightly, then licked the whiskers dry, 

 but could scarcely be said to have drunk. 



Like the preceding, this animal is the accepted prey of all exe- 

 creatures, great and small, which prey. As Dr. Coues has " 

 pointed out in good set zoological terms, the proper function of 

 the whole order Rodentia is to turn grass into meat for the sus- 

 tenance of their betters. I have taken Striped-gophers from 

 each and all of the large Hawks which nest in our Province. 



Among the quadrupeds the Badger chiefly makes a special 

 study of Ground-squirrel as diet. I have in many places seen 

 the shelter burrows ripped open for twenty or thirty yards, 

 showing where the Badger pursued the Squirrel by demolishing 

 its rooftree, and usually there was some evidence to show that 

 he had been successful. 



Cats kill a great many Gophers, but do not thrive on them; 

 in fact, many hundreds of Cats have died from feeding on 



