266 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



I know by my own observation in the North- 

 west, as well as by reading. In the buffalo-coun- 

 try, where gophers and spermophiles dwelt in 

 countless numbers, badger-holes were in old 

 times extraordinarily numerous. "I do not 

 see how they could well be more numerous any- 

 where," wrote Dr. Elliott Coues of the region 

 of the Upper Missouri as he saw it in 1875. 



"In some favorite stretches of sandy, sterile soil, 

 their burrows are everywhere, together with those 

 of kit-foxes, prairie-dogs and spermophiles, and, as 

 already stated, these holes are a source of annoyance 

 and even danger to the traveler. In ordinary jour- 

 neying one has to keep constant lookout lest his horse 

 suddenly goes down under him, with a foreleg deep 

 in a badger-hole; and part of the training of the 

 western horse is to make him look out for and avoid 

 these pitfalls. In the buffalo country particularly, 

 badgers live in extraordinary numbers, attracted and 

 retained by the surety of abundant food-supply. 



' ' The burrows of the badger are known from those 

 of the prairie-dog and other spermophiles by their 

 greater dimensions; besides, they differ from the for- 

 mer in never being built up around the entrance 

 into the regular mound or circular buttress which 

 usually surmounts the well-kept domicile of Cynomys. 

 From the holes of kit-foxes and coyotes they are not 

 distinguishable with any certainty; in fact it is prob- 

 able that these animals frequently or almost habit- 



