1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 141 



and put under their skins the necessary store of fat for winter use. 

 Different foods are favorites at different seasons as available. In 

 spring much green vegetation is eaten as it appears, and roots and 

 old seeds are dug up. Later as berries ripen they are eagerly sought, 

 and service berries, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, manzanita 

 berries, and others are eaten, seeds and all, or the seeds removed and 

 carried away in the cheek pouches to be stored. Sheldon found 

 them feeding on service berries and weed seeds, the pouches of one 

 containing 150 and another 750 seeds of service berry and of another 

 410 weed seeds. Later in the season they feed more exclusively on 

 seeds and nuts, in places getting acorns, chinquapins, hazelnuts, and 

 numerous seeds of grasses and flowering plants. 



They are fond of fresh meat of almost any kind, eagerly taking the 

 bodies of mice and birds that have been skinned for specimens and 

 used for trap bait. They also get into traps baited with bacon or any 

 fat meat and pick up meat scraps around camps. At Cloudcap Inn 

 on Mount Hood, H. D. Langille wrote that when he skinned a fat 

 ground hog these squirrels gathered around and voraciously devoured 

 both fat and meat, seeming to be crazed by the smell of the meat and 

 refused to be driven away. Luther J. Goldman, near Bend, Oreg., 

 found it necessary to visit his meat-baited carnivore traps every 

 evening to take out the " calico squirrels " caught during the daytime. 



To what extent they catch small game and insects is not well 

 known, but apparently they are less insectivorous than are the chip- 

 munks. 



Economic status. In places where numerous, the "Callos" are 

 accused of doing some damage to grain crops, tearing down and 

 carrying away the ripening heads of wheat, oats, and barley along 

 the edges of fields in or near the woods or cliffs. This damage is 

 rarely of serious consequence, however, and can be easily prevented 

 by shooting, trapping, or poisoning. 



Around camps and cabins they sometimes cut holes in sacks and 

 carry off some grain and injure other camp supplies unless pre- 

 cautions are taken to prevent such mischief. They quickly gather at 

 a source of food supply and become tame and bold in helping them- 

 selves. On the long freight-road grades of the Deschutes River 

 Canyon they were numerous, picking scattered grain from the road, 

 and reluctantly moving out of the road for horses to pass. At camps 

 they become very tame and most companionable pets if given friendly 

 protection, and in the parks are one of the most attractive forms of 

 small life. Writing from Fort Klamath in 1914, Harry Telford 

 reported that Miss Copeland had kept one as a pet for 11 years. It 

 hibernated in winter just as in the wild state. 



They are less inclined to gather tree seeds than are the chipmunks, 

 but undoubtedly do have some effect in checking reforestation and 

 still more effect in keeping down the grazing, both of grass and 

 many other useful forms of vegetation. They have numerous 

 enemies, however, from snakes to predaceous mammals and birds of 

 prey, and generally their numbers are kept well within bounds. It 

 may sometimes be necessary to destroy them locally in which cases 

 the methods worked out tor ground squirrels in general will be 

 -found effective. 



