268 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



two to six. All Gophers are exceedingly pug- 

 nacious, and will fight even man or dog. 



" Gopher burrows seem to have neither begin- 

 ning nor end," writes Vernon IJailey. " They 

 are extended and added to year after year, and 

 in many cases those dug by a single animal 

 would measure a mile or more, if straightened 

 out. At the end of a year a Gopher may often 

 be found within twenty rods of the point from 

 which he started, but in traveling this distance 

 he has paid no attention to the points of the 

 compass. He follows a tender root for a few 



paws assisted by the pushing of the hind feet, 

 which removes the earth from beneath the body 

 and propels it back with great power a distance 

 of eight or ten inches. \\'hen a small quantity of 

 earth has accumulated in the rear of the miner, 

 around he whirls with a vigorous flirt of the 

 tail and, joining his fore-paws before his nose, 

 he transmutes himself into a sort of wheelbarrow 

 pushing the dirt before him to a convenient 

 distance." 



Merritt Gary, in "A Biological Survey of 

 Colorado," savs, " Ranchmen in the foothill val- 



By permission of the U. S. Biological Survey 



Drawing by E. T. Setou 



PRAIRIE POCKET GOPHER 

 The specimen from which this drawing was made was secured in Manitoba. About two-thirds natural size 



feet, then moves to one side, encounters a stone 

 and makes a second turn. A layer of mellow 

 soil entices him off in another direction, and so 

 on through a thousand devious crooks and turn?. 

 At intervals openings are made through which to 

 discharge the earth that makes the little piles 

 called Gopher-hills." 



Gophers have regular storehouses where roots 

 and other foods are stored away, being carried 

 in the peculiar pockets on each side of the face. 



Dr. Goode describes their digging habits as 

 follows : " They dig by grubbing with the nose 

 and a rapid sho-/elling with the long curved fore- 



leys and mountain parks sufTer considerable 

 loss through the depredations of these animals, 

 and every year a large acreage of alfalfa is 

 killed by Gophers cutting the roots just beneath 

 the surface of the ground. We discovered, 

 three inches below the surface, a cavity in which 

 a Gopher had a store of nearly fifty tiger-lily 

 bulbs, evidently gathered the previous fall. The 

 cavity was nearly full, and the bulbs were 

 scattered through loose earth, which had been 

 thoroughly worked over. A tunnel led directly 

 from the cache to the flower-bed a rod or so 

 distant. Near Golden the Gopher is said to 



