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oo EPORT OF THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND MAMMALOGIST. 44} 
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_. It takes little imagination to make this seem like farming, for the Prairie Dogs 
keep digging up the grass around the outside of their little farms all summer, and 
so enlarging their field of grain for fall and winter use. : 
_ The knot-grass grows all along roads and old fields. Probably itis Polygoniwn 
 aviculare or a variety. us 
Several Prairie Dogs often run into the same hole. Ihave counted as many as six: 
_ going into one hole. The last one generally stays out and barks until approached- 
almost within shooting distance, and sometimes untilclose enough fora shot. I 
approached one by walking slowly and whistling until within about 20 feet, and 
_ then shot it dead, but could never charm another. 
If they see a person 40 rods away they all run and get into or very near their 
holes and bark; as you come nearer they get lower down in the holes, until almost 
out of sight, but keep barking and shaking their tails until they think the danger 
is too near, then, with a parting shake of the tail, down they go, and they are not 
likely to appear again for several hours. By creeping very low I have gct near 
enough to shoot some through the head with large shot, and if killed very dead, and 
I could get hold of it before it slid or kicked down the hole too far, it was my dog; 
if not, it was lost. 
They seem to pay no attention to horses feeding among their holes, but run all 
around them. Ihave found two stone arrowheads among the holes, and so conclude 
that the Indians liked Prairie Dogs. 
When they see anything suspicious at a distance they get on the highest mounds, 
and, stretching as tall as possible, watchit. Now and then one will come up to the 
perpendicular with a kind of jump, evidently to try and get a little higher, and at 
the same time utter a peculiar cry,a kind of long ‘‘ chur-r-r-r-r.”_ This is the only 
sound I have ever heard them make beside barking. If a Red Squirrel was as large 
asa Prairie Dog its bark would not be very different—that is, when a Red Squirrel 
barks the fastest and most excitedly. 
They do not throw the dirt out of their holes in one pile in front of the hole, as 
Woodchucks and most animals do, but it is built up in a ring around the hole, form- 
ing a cone with sometimes quite sharp edges. The cone varies according to the 
amount of dirt thrown out, and is generally 10 or 12 inches high. It is sometimes 
a steep rim, and is sometimes wide and flat. The mouth of the holes are nearly al- 
ways ‘‘ bell muzzled,” or flaring from the bottom to the top of the cone, and in most 
of the holes you can plainly see where the dogs have shaped it, while the earth was 
soft and muddy, by pressing it back with their noses, leaving the little round prints 
of their noses in the hard clay close together, and perhaps a hundred or more in the 
sides of one doorway. Eyes dark brown (the iris). The animals are now very fat, 
but show no signs of hibernating. 
He WoopcHuck; GRouND Hog; Marmor (Arctomys monaz). 
Minnesota and eastern Dakota.—Occurs in the Red River Valley from Pembina 
southward, but is rare. In Sherburne County, in eastern Minnesota, it is rather 
common. 
YELLOW-BELLIED WOODCHUCE (Arciomys flaviventer). 
Dakota.—Occurs in the Black Hills, but was not known from the region about 
Fort Buford. 
BEAVER (Castor canadensis). 
Dakota.—Fort Buford, September, 1887: Said to be found along the Missouri 
River. Black Hills, October and November, 1887: Formerly common here; a few 
said to be still found in places far back from the settlements. 
Montana.—Tilyou’s Ranch, Dawson County, September, 1887: Quite common 
along the river; have seen some tracks. 
Housm Rat; Norway Rat (Mus decumanis). 
Minnesota.—Brown’s Valley, Traverse County, June and July, 1887: Abundant. 
Dakota.—Grand Forks, July, 1887: Said to have been found here only recently. 
- Pembina, July and August, 1887: Does not occur. Devil’s Lake, Ramsey County, 
_ August, 1887: Does not occur. Fort Buford, September, 1887: Common; caught a 
_ very large one in my room, and heard them every night. 
Hovust Mouse (Mus musculus). 
® 
Minnesota.—Elk River, Sherburne County: The House Mouse is common about 
our buildings. Ten years ago, when the place was new and surrounded by timber, 
