CHAPTER IX 



GROUND-SQUIRRELS AND PRAIRIE- 

 DOGS 



We come now to the ground-squirrels, which 

 are of small size, have flat and comparatively 

 short tails, and keep near the earth, living be- 

 neath it and deriving their food from weeds 

 and low bushes for the most part. There are 

 scores of species which fall into two groups, 

 the striped chipmunks of the eastern and north- 

 ern woods, and the unstriped spermophiles of 

 the western plains. 



The chipmunks. Our familiar chipmunk is 

 the only eastern representative of this large 

 group, and is seen everywhere. In size and 

 manners he is much like the saucy red squirrel, 

 but the five black stripes alternating with two 

 whitish ones on his chestnut coat (fading 

 through yellowish on the sides into a white 

 vest), distinguish him in an instant. His race 

 extends clear across the continent and to 

 Alaska, wherever timber grows, but the western 

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