46 WILD ANIMALS OP GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. 



through the grass and Uowers ahead of a party of tourists, and their 

 loud chirping notes may be heard up and down the slopes for a long 

 distance as they rush for their burrows and then stand erect Avatch- 

 ing for danger and passing along the alarm call. They are not 

 usually found actually above timberline, but in many places are 

 common among the dwarfed trees only a little below, and on open 

 slopes or in the path of avalanches or fire-swept strips they range 

 clear through the Canadian Zone to the open areas lower down, 



Columbia ground squirrels are strictly ground clw^ellers, never 

 climbing trees but often seen on logs- and rocks, where they sit to 

 watch for danger. Their burrows enter the sidehills or the flat 

 ground wherever there is sufficient soil to give room for comfortable 

 winter quarters. About the hotels and chalets they often live under 

 the buildings and sit on the porches when no one is around. They 

 gather at camp sites to pick up scraps of scattered food, and sit on 

 the abandoned benches and tables, in places becoming very tame 

 and confidential. Generally, however, they are wary and suspicious, 

 for their enemies are more numerous than their friends. They are 

 rarely found far from their burrows, and when alarmed all rush to 

 the nearest burrow or shelter, no matter to whom it -belongs. Their 

 little roadways lead through the grass from one burrow to another 

 and radiate out from the central dens into the meadows wdiere they 

 fcH'd. Their call notes render them conspicuous where they would 

 not otherwise be noticed. The first one that discovers an approaching 

 enemy or suspicious character gives a loud churp! wdiich is quickly 

 taken up by others wdthin hearing, and soon the word has been passed 

 along far and wide. As one walks through their meadows these 

 notes are heard on all sides. At first the note is a loud churp! chirp! 

 churp! at intervals of two or three seconds, repeated by each of the 

 animals, but as the danger approaches the warning becomes more 

 vigorous an.d rapid until with a final shriek of blended churps the 

 nearest animal disappears down its burrow and others beyond double 

 their energy in giving the alarm. The notes vary under different 

 conditions. When a sharp-shinned hawk came swooping over an 

 alpine meadow the notes were especially soft and did not seem to 

 ' indicate much alarm. At another time when a large hawk was cir- 

 cling overhead their notes were shrill and almost frantic. Different 

 tones and inflections evidently convey to them different meanings, 

 but to what extent they use vocal communication is unknown. A 

 quick sharp note of the mother squirrel sends the brood of young 

 scampering down the burrow, wdiile her softer tones only induce them 

 to seek the edge of the burrow where they may await further in- 

 structions. 



Their food consists largely of a great variety of green vegetation — 

 leaves and Inids and flowers and seeds of the mountain plants. The 



