150 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



culty. Referring to this matter Dr. Merriain 

 made the following appealing remarks in a re- 

 cent paper on these pests in California: 



Striped spermophiles exist along the grassy 

 eastern border of the plains right down to the 

 Gulf of Mexico; and Texas has, besides, a 

 beautiful little "sand-squirrel," spotted with 

 white on a yellowish ground, relieved by black 

 markings. It is a shy, inconspicuous little 

 creature, rarely noticed until it attracts atten- 

 tion by a fine trilling bird-like whistle. These 

 and other spermophiles are most numerous 

 where the mesquit grows, for its seeds afford 

 them good food. They are fond, too, of the 

 fruit of the small prickly pear, the sand-bur, 

 and other shrubs and weds, and eat many 

 grasshoppers and other insects. The graceful 

 antelope-squirrel, taking its name from its col- 

 ors, is another species conspicuous for its 

 beauty, carrying its short, wide, white-lined tail 

 curled over its back like a plume. All these 

 burrow at the edge of thickets and cactus 

 clumps and apparently hibernate. Sometimes 

 they do much damage by boring through the 

 banks of irrigating ditches. Another south- 



