FIELD BOOK OF MAMMALS 



"bark." About the size of a small Woodchuck; head broad 

 and rounded; ears low and rounded; body stout; tail very 

 short, well haired but flat; legs short, wrist and heel well 

 furred, with a tuft of hair in center of palm; forefeet with 

 five claws; mammse 8 to 12; cheek-pouches present; pelage 

 rather coarse; iris hazel. Plate XX. 



Color. — Sexes indistinguishable as to color. 



Upperparts. — Dark pinkish cinnamon with fine grizzling of 

 black and buff; whitish or buffy on sides of nose, upper lip, 

 and eye-ring; sides, arms, and legs pale ochraceous-cinnamon; 

 feet buffy; tail like back except for terminal third, which is 

 blackish, underside of tail paler than above. 



Underparts. — Whitish to buffy white. 



Winter pelage fuller, softer, and longer than summer, grayer, 

 with blackish on forehead. 



Young. — Above ochraceous-cinnamon, with fewer inter- 

 mixed white and black hairs than adults. 



Pelage is molted and replaced by new coat from March to 

 May, and August to November. 



Measurements. — Females very slightly smaller than males. 

 Males, total length, 14. 5-1 6.5 inches; tail vertebrse, 3-4 

 inches; hind foot, 2.5-3.3 inches. Weight, from 2 lbs. 3 oz. 

 for females to 3 lbs. for males. 



Geographical Distribution. — Great Plains region. 



Food. — Native vegetation and crops. Grasses and green 

 vegetation, roots ; at times more or less omnivorous. 



Enemies. — Large Hawks, Eagle, Raven, Coyote, Badger, 

 Black-footed Ferret, and occasionally other carnivores. 



Species and Subspecies of the Genus Cynomys 

 Subgenus Cynomys 



Black-tailed Prairie-dog. — Cynomys ludovicianus ludovicianus 

 (Ord). Plate XX. 

 The animal just described. Found in "Great Plains region 

 of western United States, south from near the Canadian 

 border in Montana to west-central Texas (Mason County 

 to eastern Pecos Valley) ; east to about the ninety-seventh 

 meridian in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma; west to the 

 Rocky Mountains in central Montana, Wyoming, and 

 Colorado, and in extreme eastern New Mexico. Chiefly 

 Upper Sonoran, but also ranging into Transition and Lower 

 Sonoran Zones. Introduced colonies exist, or have been 



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