258 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



houses in the ground, after the fasliion of their cousin, 

 the Woodchuck. But the Prairie Dogs are very sociable, 

 living in great underground villages, sometimes twenty 

 or thirty miles long. We may see the doors of their 

 homes easily enough, where they sit hunched like little 

 old women, with their arms wrapped in shawls, yet quite 

 alert, like all of the Squirrel family to which they be- 

 long. But they never invite us inside, or even give us 

 a glimpse of the miles and miles of underground pas- 

 sages that run so deep, that I have often wondered if 

 this little beast might not sometimes burrow down to 

 water, for though they often live near creeks and in 

 river bottoms, they also seem to be content quite out 

 of reach of visible water at least. 



"Deep as the passages may l^e, tlie Badger knows 

 how to dig down to them, and readily captures this 

 Prairie Squirrel, with its grizzled brown coat and jNlar- 

 mot's face. Though called Prairie -Z>o//, there is not a 

 point of resemblance between this vegetable eater and 

 the meat-eating dog, except it is in its cry, — 'Yap — 

 yap — yap ! ' — which is between a yelp and a bark. 



" Cleanly in its habits and ratlier prettily furred, this 

 fourfoot is a prince among mischief makers, and is a 

 fine illustration of an animal who is becoming not only 

 a nuisance, but a real danger to crops, because of the 

 necessary disturbance of the great balance wheel." 



" What wheel was that ? I forget about it," said 

 Dodo. 



" I remember," said Xat ; " the balance wheel is what 

 Uncle Roy called ' Tlie Plan of the AVorld,' where 

 things were arranged so that every animal and plant 

 should be food to some other one, and there shouldn't 



