ALONE ON A MOUNTAIN 149 



my small neighbor appeared. Like a modest little gray 

 shadow it seemed to slide out from nowhere to the level 

 top of a chunk of stone, and there halted to observe the 

 world. Except for his short round ears, he looked like 

 a half-grown gray rabbit. I waited for him to go to work 

 at cutting his winter's supply of hay, but he was too delib- 

 erate, and before he began his day's work I was obliged 

 to move on. 



Let it be remembered at this point that this little 

 creature, so long called the little chief " hare," or crying 

 " hare," is not a hare, nor is it even a member of the 

 Hare and Rabbit Family (Leporid^e). It is so odd that 

 it stands alone, in a Family limited to its own small self, 

 containing only the pikas. But, small and lonesome 

 though he be, the pika is wise. Neither marten, wol- 

 verine nor grizzly can dig him out of his slide-rock, and 

 we never once saw a place where a bear had even tried 

 to do so. But the nearest neighbor of the pika has far 

 less wisdom. 



In many localities around Phillips Peak we found 

 big holes in the ground that had been dug by grizzly 

 bears in quest of Columbia River ground-squirrels.* 

 Indeed, we saw more holes than ground-squirrels. This 

 animal looks like a long-bodied Carolina gray squirrel 

 with a half-sized tail. Usually it is found in the moun- 

 tain basins, and in other open situations below timber- 

 line where the earth is right for burrowing. 



We saw between forty and fifty holes, from two to 

 three feet deep, and usually three feet in surface diam- 



* Citellus columhianus. 



