PRAIRIE MARMOT. 131 



taining perhaps a thousand inhabitants, whose 

 various gambols delight the traveller as he passes. 



Smaller villages are also seen, and some of greater 

 extent; but on the borders of the Rocky Mountains, 

 where no human footsteps encroach on their ancient 

 empire, unless by chance a traveller may pass that 

 way, they extend even for miles. Each burrow 

 contains several ^occupants, and seven or eight are 

 often seen reposing on one mound. Here, in pleasant 

 weather, they delight to bask in the warm sun- 

 beams. When danger approaches, they bark de- 

 fiance, and intrepidly flourish their tails; when it 

 draws near, the whole troop hasten into their sub- 

 terraneous habitations, where they remain till the 

 danger is past. They then peep forth one by one, 

 and vigilantly scrutinize every object before they 

 resume their wonted stations. 



These conical mounds, which make known the ha- 

 bitation of the Prairie Marmot, are about six or eight 

 inches above the surface, and two or three feet in 

 circumference; a passage descends vertically from 

 them to the depth of two or three feet, and then goes 

 off in an oblique direction downwards. Each con- 

 tains a neat globular cell of fine dry grass, with an 

 aperture at the top, large enough to admit a finger, 

 and so compactly formed, that it may be rolled 

 about without receiving any injury. 



Marmot villages are also very common in the 

 Prairies of the Platte. Captain Head and his com- 

 panions observed several during their progress to- 

 wards the Rocky Mountains: the further they ad- 

 vanced, the more frequent and extensive these villages 

 became, and it was highly interesting to contrast 



K 2 



