THE SUSLIKS, OR GOPHERS 



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all long tailed, and approach more closely in form to the chipmunks. In North 

 America no representatives of the genus occur to the eastward of the plains and 

 prairies forming the centre of the continent, but they range westward to the coast of 

 the Pacific. In latitude the range of the genus extends from the shores of the Arc- 

 tic Sea to the plains of Northern Mexico. 



The common suslik (S. citillus}; which is the species depicted in our illustra- 

 tion, is common in Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia, and is a uniformly- 

 colored animal, scarcely as large as the European squirrel, with a very short tail, 

 and minute external ears. In America, the commonest representative of the genus 

 is the striped gopher (S. tridecemlineatus) , which is some seven or eight inches in 

 length, with a tail of about two-thirds that length, and small ears. In color it is 

 typically dark reddish brown above, with six to eight longitudinal light stripes alter- 



THE COMMON SUSWK. 

 (One-third natural size.) 



nating with from five to seven rows of light spots; the under parts being yellowish 

 brown in the middle line, bordered on the sides with yellow, with a narrow black 

 band running between the two tints. This species ranges from the Red river in 

 Canada to Texas. The long-eared gopher (S. grammurus], ranging from Colorado 

 to California, may be cited as an example of another group of the genus, in which 

 the ears are very large, and often fringed with long hairs, while the tail is very long 

 and bushy. Fossil remains show that susliks were more widely distributed in Eu- 

 rope during the Pleistocene period than they are at the present day; some of their 

 remains having been discovered in the brick earths of the Thames valley. 



All the susliks are social and burrowing animals, generally selecting 

 open plains, with a sandy or clayey soil, for the construction of their 

 domiciles, and studiously avoiding forests or swampy districts. The burrows of the 



Habits 



