THE SMALL NEIGHBORS OF BIG GAME 299 



him nearly to Minneapolis, and he continually wondered 

 whether " poor Little Mike " smothered because they did 

 not give him enough air. I think the animal was hurt 

 internally when captured, or else died of a " broken 

 heart," as even bear and deer sometimes do when caught 

 and crated. 



The Columbia River Ground-Squirrel, {Citellus 

 columbianus) , is the special prey of the grizzly bear. On 

 the grass slides and meadows at timberline, we saw at 

 least fifty holes that had been dug by bears in quest of 

 those animals. In southeastern British Columbia this 

 creature is called a " gopher," but that term is a mis- 

 nomer. The real gophers are very short and thick-bodied 

 villains, with large claws and cheek-pouches, and they 

 belong to a family well removed from the Squirrel 

 Family. 



The Ground-Squirrel mentioned above looks some- 

 what like a common gray squirrel with a half-length tail; 

 but in reality its pelage is marked with fine cross-bars. 

 It has the habits of a spermophile, and when alarmed sits 

 up at the mouth of its burrow, very erect and post-like. 

 Evidently it does not burrow deeply, for none of the 

 holes dug by the grizzlies descended more than four feet, 

 and the majority of them did not exceed a depth of three 

 feet. The question is, as winter approaches do they bur- 

 row on down below the frost line, or do they hibernate 

 in shallow burrows, in a torpid condition, as does our 

 common chipmunk, with six heart-beats to the minute 

 and a blood circulation that is scarcely perceptible? 



We saw several examples of the very small and dark- 



