154 .NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



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CITELLUS MOLLIS MOLLIS (KENNICOTT) 



SAGE SQUIKBEL; PIUTE SQUIRREL; KOOP or GOOP of the Piute at Pyramid Lake 



(C. H. M.) 



Spermophilus mollis Kennicott, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc., p. 157, 1863. 



Type locality. Camp Floyd, near Fairfield, Utah. 



General characters. Small, short, and plump with short tail, short legs, and 

 minute ears. Fur short and soft. Plain huffy gray over back and warm 

 fulvous over head, neck, legs, and tail ; feet and lower parts well up onto the 

 sides clear huffy; winter pelage, feet and lower parts pale huffy or whitish, 

 but with the same fulvous head, collar, legs, and tail. 



Measurements. Largest adult female: Total length, 210 mm; tail, 46; foot, 

 34 ; ear, inside, 7, outside, 1. Two large and moderately fat specimens weighed 

 8 ounces each. 



Distribution and habitat. From a wide range over the upper 

 Sonoran sagebrush deserts of western Utah, southern Idaho, and 

 much of Nevada these soft little squirrels come into the Owyhee and 

 Alvord Valleys of southeastern Oregon in their typical form (fig. 29). 

 In 1915 Preble collected specimens at Home and reported them all 

 along the Owyhee Valley and up onto the slopes of the Juniper Moun- 

 tains. In 1927, July 2 to 7, the writer found them abundant through- 

 out the Owyhee, Jordan, and Rattlesnake Valleys, up Crooked Creek 

 and over to the Sink of White Horse Creek, over the low divide to 

 Alvord Valley and all over the sagebrush bottom of this great basin 

 from the Nevada line on the south to its northern end. Also they 

 were abundant in the headwaters basin of Quinn River, north of 

 Old Fort McDermitt on the Oregon-Nevada line, but their real con- 

 nection in range with the Nevada Valley country is through the wide 

 open southern end of Alvord Valley south of Denio, where it joins 

 the upper Quinn River Valley. 



Along more than 100 miles of desert road they were common, and 

 many were shot for specimens, examination, and study. They seemed 

 especially partial to sandy soil and fairly revelled in the extensive 

 sand dunes and sandy shores of the great playas of the Alvord and 

 White Horse Valleys. In places their little burrows were in the 

 open and afforded almost the only cover, but generally they were 

 under the protecting shade of sagebrush or greasewood or some of 

 the low desert shrubs. Generally the little squirrels were seen run- 

 ning for the nearest burrow, but occasionally one would be seen 

 standing erect like a stake or sitting on top of a sagebrush watching 

 for danger. 



General habits. Their fine little squeally whistle was often heard 

 from behind a bush, but it would give little clue to their position, 

 and the gray sand colors were most effective in concealing them from 

 view until they moved. Often the only glimpse of one was a mere 

 twinkle as it scuttled into a burrow and out of sight. During the 

 hot part of the day they were less abundant, and numerous tracks 

 about their burrows and along the trails and roads indicated the 

 morning and evening hours as the busy times of day. 



In early July the young were nearly full grown, but they remained 

 at the parent burrow or near by, while the adult males were getting 

 a heavy coat of fat and the females and young beginning to show 

 fatty deposits under the skins. 



