66 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



found from sea level to the pine belt, to 8,000 feet altitude in 

 southern California. 



The food is principally of a veg-etable nature, preferably grain 

 and other seeds, fruit, potatoes, green plants, etc. Eggs of 

 poultry and wild birds are relished. Some insects, such as 

 grasshoppers are eaten, which is one of the too few things that 

 can be put to their credit. On the label accompanying one of my 

 Ground-Squirrel skins is the note "cocoons in the cheek pouches." 

 Flesh is sometimes eaten. These Ground-Squirrels are serious 

 pests to the farmer, and, in isolated places, to the fruit grower. 

 They can climb well enough to get into peach and other fruit 

 trees, and they make serious waste in small orchards in some 

 places, as I know from personal experience. One often sees a 

 strip several yards wide around a field stripped of the grain, and 

 patches cut through the fields where they have established bur- 

 rows. 



There are various methods of destroying Ground-Squirrels, 

 their effectiveness depending much on local conditions. In large 

 areas of grain land poison is probably the most effective for a 

 beginning. In some places men make a business of poisoning 

 the Ground Squirrels, taking contracts by the acre or for the 

 ranch. Each man Jias some favorite method or formula for 

 preparing the poison that he has been successful with. It will us- 

 ually pay best to give the expert the job if one can be employed. 

 The mistake is usually made of letting the work stop after the 

 expert has filled his contract. If the area is large, so that when 

 once cleared of Ground-Squirrels there is a good chance to keep it 

 clear, every effort should be made to completely exterminate the 

 pests. After the most thorough poisoning a few animals will 

 be left, enough to re-stock the fields in a year or two, and if these 

 are destroyed by one method or another before the next breeding 

 season it will be comparatively easy to keep the borders clear in 

 the future. Poisoned grain for destroying Ground-Squirrels is 

 sold in all the towns, and unless large quantities are used it is 

 as well to buy it ready prepared. Put a teaspoonful of the grain 



