MAMMALS OK TIIK MKXICAX KoirNDARY 



347 



\)hdvv late in June, the youiit;' wei'e frolieking abroad in lunnerous 

 families in utter disreji'ard of our presence. Nesir Chavez Pass enor- 

 mous areas were covered by their colonies. 



In Aravaipa Canyon, in southern Arizona, the Arizona prairie-dogs 

 {Oi//iofm/s ladovlclanus arizoni'nsh) were active during the coldest 

 weather; but the short-tailed prairie-dogs living in the Agua Fria Val- 

 ley between Forts Verde and Whipple do not appear during the cold- 

 est periods, but venture forth as soon as the weather moderates. 

 Probably those residing on the San Francisco Mountains, where the 

 winter is long and cold and the ground deeply covered, with snow, 

 regularly hibernate, as the large ground-squirrel {Otospermophilus 

 (/ra/mnurii,s) is known to do; ]>ut early in April, 1S8<), we found them 

 out of their burrows, close to the snow which still covered the divide 

 of the MogoUon Mountains, 



This barking-scjuirrel is gi'aminivorous. devouring nearly every 

 green thing within its settlements, which in consequence l)ecome 

 barren and forbidding in appearance. Lack of food or sudden inunda- 

 tions are the ordinary causes leading to a change of location, which is 

 usually accomplished by a gradual invasion of contiguous territory. 



An interesting chapter might !>*> written under the caption of "The 

 prairie-dog as a pet," to which every army youngster could contril)ute 

 something of interest from personal experience. In captivity it is 

 pla^'ful, and makes an extraordinarily bright and agreeable pet. It 

 is fond of raw meat, and drinks water freely. Its propensity for 

 undermining the walls of the buildings and digging up the yards is 

 regarded as reprehensible by some; but, to juvenile minds, such 

 trifling peccadillos are more than compensated for by its clever tricks 

 and its attachment for its master, at whose clothing it will tug when 

 readv for a frolic or desirous of beino- fed. 



Measurements of 77 xpeeiiiwits aftlie (/eiiiis < 'i/n(»iii/s. 



'(.Vnu'rican .Museum ol" Xalutal Ilislnrv. 



