1936] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 151 



stomachs, and later in summer the ripening seeds and grains form 

 more of the food. By the time the summer is half over many of 

 the squirrels are so fat that they fairly waddle as they run, and 

 their feeding time is nearly over for the season. No stores are laid 

 up, and the cheek pouches are little used. 



JSconorrdo status. These are by far the most numerous, widely 

 distributed, and destructive ground squirrels in Oregon, generally 

 common over the principal grain-producing area of the State east 

 of the Cascade Eange and often exceedingly numerous. Formerly 

 they occupied the best grass area, which has now become the best 

 wheat area. 



In Swan Lake Valley in June 1897 the writer counted 30 of the 

 squirrels standing up watching him on a quarter of an acre of pas- 

 ture land, and they seemed to be no more numerous there than over 

 the greater part of the valley. Probably 100 to the acre would be 

 a fair estimate of their numbers in many fertile valleys in the State. 

 In Hay Creek Valley, May 10, 1915, Jewett saw the bodies of several 

 hundred of these squirrels on about 2 acres of alfalfa land that had 

 been treated with poisoned grain the night before. Apparently the 

 squirrels were about as numerous in this grain- and hay-producing 

 valley then as when the present writer recorded their abundance 

 there 19 years before, although poison, guns, traps, dogs, and cats 

 had been used against them since the early settlement of the valley. 

 In many places their numbers are temporarily reduced by poison or 

 bounties, but they are soon back to original abundance, and it is 

 doubtful if they are less numerous in the State today than they were 

 25 or 50 years ago. 



They feed on the spring grain when it is first sown and while 

 sprouting, growing, and ripening, and even after harvest if it is left 

 in the fields. Winter wheat and rye partly escape, but the writer 

 has seen a 30-acre field of rye with 2 or 3 rods of the edges crumpled 

 down and practically ruined by the squirrels in June, before it was 

 ready for harvest as hay. Their destruction of hay and forage, 

 alfalfa, clover, grass, and other forage plants, while less noticed, is 

 probably as serious as their destruction of grain. Of the heavy tax 

 laid on farm products in Oregon by rodents, these squirrels may 

 probably claim the largest share. 



There is no reason why they should not make some returns as a 

 meat supply, however, as they are good eating, and their abundance 

 partly compensates for their small size. 



The destruction of their natural enemies hawks, badgers, weasels, 

 skunks, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and snakes probably accounts for 

 their being able to hold their own in the face of the sporadic warfare 

 waged against them. Only an efficient organization and the best 

 modern methods of destruction will materially reduce the losses from 

 these animals. 



CITELLUS TOWNSENDII (BAOHMAN) 



TOWNSEND'S GROUND SQUIRREL; SPECKLED GROUND SQUIRREL; TBTNO of the 

 Walla Walla and Nez Perc6 (J. K. T.) 



Spermophilus tcmnsendU Bachman, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 8 : 61, 1839. 



Type. Collected at mouth of Walla Walla River, Wash., by J. K. Townsend 

 in 1834. 



