SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



501 



types of forests from among the palms and 

 other trees of the tropical lowlands to the 

 oaks, pines, and firs on the mountain sides. 



All members of the family live wholly un- 

 derground, in many-branched horizontal tun- 

 nels, which they are continually extending in 

 winding and erratic courses about their haunts. 

 The tunnels are from two to about five 

 inches in diameter, according to the size of the 

 animal, and while usually less than six inches 

 below the surface, the approaches to the nest 

 and storage chambers sometinies drop abruptly 

 two or three feet below the regular working 

 tunnels to the level of the living quarters. At 

 intervals along the tunnels short side branches 

 are used as sanitary conveniences, thus ena- 

 bling the occupant to keep the main passage- 

 ways in a habitable condition. 



The courses of the underground workings 

 are roughly indicated on the surface by series 

 of piles of loose earth brought up through 

 short side passages as the tunnels are ex- 

 tended. These little miners' dumps of earth 

 vary with the size of the animal, sometimes 

 containing more than two bushels. The out- 

 lets of the passages leading to the surface are 

 kept plugged with loose earth. When these 

 animals are numerous the ground is thickly 

 dotted in all directions with earth piles, and 

 the caving caused by the network of timnels 

 just below the surface renders walking difii- 

 cult. The perpetual industry of these rodent 

 miners outclasses that of the proverbial beaver. 



Gophers are both diurnal and nocturnal, the 

 gloom of their tunnels scarcely varying except 

 when one of the outlets is temporarily opened. 

 They are averse to light, and if the plug to a 

 freshly made opening is removed the observer 

 may soon catch a glimpse of the owner as he 

 suddenly thrusts his head into view for a mo- 

 ment before again plugging the door with earth. 



Gophers dig their tunnels by using their teeth 

 and the strong claws on the front feet. The 

 loose earth is pushed along the tunnel by the 

 head, the palms of the front feet, and the 

 breast in little jerky movements until it is 

 ejected on the surface dump. 



Owing to their poor sight, heavy bodies, and 

 short legs, gophers are clumsy and deliberate 

 in their movements and peculiarly helpless in 

 the open. Apparently appreciating this, they 

 rarely venture from their underground shelter 

 by day except when in grain fields or similar 

 sheltering vegetation. Here they sometimes 

 run out two or three feet to cut down a succu- 

 lent stalk and drag it hastily within the entrance 

 of the tunnel, wlierc it is cut into short sections 

 and placed in the cheek pouches if to be used 

 as food or left on the dump if the object of 

 the cutting is finally to secure the seeds or 

 head of ripening grain. 



During the mating season in spring pocket 

 gophers run about clumsily from one burrow 

 to another and may often be seen on the sur- 

 face by the light of the rising sun. Most of 

 their short trips above ground are made at 

 night, when they sometimes swarm out and 

 wander over a limited territory. Their night 

 wanderings are proved in California by the 

 many bodies which the morning light often re- 



veals in the sticky crude oil on newly oiled 

 roads which the gophers have tried to cross. 



From one to seven young are born in a litter, 

 but whether there is more than one litter in a 

 season or not is unknown. The young when 

 about half grown migrate to unoccupied ground 

 sometimes one or two hundred yards from the 

 home location and make tunnels of their own. 



The food of pocket gophers consists mainly 

 of tubers, bulbs, and other roots, including 

 many of a more woody fiber. Whole rows of 

 potatoes or other root crops are cleaned up by 

 the extension of tunnels along them. Some- 

 times the animals follow a row of fruit trees, 

 cutting the roots and killing tree after tree. In 

 graip and alfalfa fields they are great pests, and 

 in irrigated country their burrows in ditch 

 banks often cause disastrous breaks. 



The big tropical species sometimes exist in 

 such numbers as to render successful agricul- 

 ture very difficult. Sugar-cane planters in 

 many parts of Mexico and Central America are 

 compelled to wage unremitting war on them to 

 avoid ruin. I know of an instance on a plan- 

 tation in Vera Cruz in which thousands were 

 killed during a single season without stopping 

 the damage from these pests, which swarmed in 

 from the adjacent area. 



The large external cheek pouches of pocket 

 gophers are used solely for gathering such food 

 supplies as seeds, small bulbs, and sections of 

 edible roots or plant stems and transporting 

 them to storage chambers located along the 

 sides of the tunnels. Food is placed in the 

 pouches by deft sidewise movements of the 

 front feet used like hands, and so quick are 

 they that the motions of the feet can scarcely 

 be detected. The pockets are emptied by plac- 

 ing the front feet on the back ends of the 

 pouches and pushing forward, thus forcing out 

 the contents. In their tunnels gophers run 

 backward and forward with almost equal facil- 

 ity, the sensitive naked tail serving to guide 

 their backward movements. 



Pocket gophers are stupid solitary little 

 beasts, with surly dispositions, and figlit vi- 

 ciously when captured or brought to bay. This 

 attitude toward the world is justified by the 

 host of enemies ever ready to destroy them. 

 Among their more active foes are snakes and 

 weasels, which pursue them into their tunnels; 

 and badgers, which dig them out of their run- 

 ways. 



They are also persistently hunted day and 

 night by foxes and coyotes. Moreover, by day 

 va^-ious kinds of hawks w^atch for them to ap- 

 pear at the entrances of their dens, and by 

 night the owls, ever alert, capture many. 



When one gopher intrudes into the tunnel of 

 another the owner at once fiercely attacks it. 

 In some places I have seen Mexicans take ad- 

 vantage of this characteristic pugnacity by fast- 

 ening the end of a long string about the body 

 of a captured goplier and then turning it into 

 an occupied tunnel, through a recently made 

 opening. Tlie owner, scenting the intruder, 

 would immediately attack him, the combatants 

 locking their great incisors in a bulldog grip. 



The movements of the string would give no- 

 tice of the encounter, and by pulling it out 



