Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 261 



291. Squirrels and Gophers.— All of our Eastern and Nortliein leaders will 

 understand about squirrels, and how mucli mischief the smallest of the 

 family does in the corn-field ; but they know notliing of gopliers — they belong 

 to the "West. In California they are almost intolerable, and it is about as 

 hard to devise a i>lan to get rid of them as it is here to get lid of the "chip- 

 mucks" {Tainias tysteri). In our opinion, the best way to pre\-ent them 

 from digging up the seed-corn is to give them plenty to eat on the surface. 

 What is half a bushel of com sown broadcast for the squirrels to pick up ? 

 It would save the seed of a large field harmless. "We would wiUinirlv give 

 that every year to see the dear little things around a farm. It is worth that 

 to see the old dog chase them, and " bark at the bole" where one ran through 

 a stone wall. "We have concluded never to kill a chipmuck. If others wish 

 to do it, they may perform the work by poisoning corn, or they may prevent 

 them from eating it by coating the seed*with tar, which is done by mixing a 

 pint of tar in a pail of warm water, and putting the corn in it ; then, to make 

 it pleasant to handle, roll it in dry plaster. If a little flour sulphur is sprinkled 

 on the wet seed, it will adhere and give it an odor that all little pests dislike. 



At the "West, in woody districts, gray, black, and fox squirrels, particularly 

 the first named, are sometimes very destructive to the corn-fields in autumn. 

 The gray and black squirrels increase so rapidly after one or two seasons of 

 an abundant supply of beech-nuts, that the regular squirrel-hunts do not 

 apjK'ar tu diminisli their numbers. They arc to some extent migratory, as 

 their sujiplies change, from beech to oak lands. At such times the strong 

 and healthy will swim large rivers, and unitormly take one direction, leaving 

 the young and feeble at home. 



In Ohio, about the year 1835, squirrels became so numerous over the 

 whole country as to threaten the entire destruction of corn-fields while in the 

 milk. The following year they were all starved. In the winter tiiey ran 

 desperately over the fields, indiflerent of danger, sometimes feeding upon 

 the bark of the beech. 



The red and striped or ground squirrel are not liable to sufier from these 

 vicissitudes, as they lay up a store for winter. I think the ilying squirrel 

 does also, but this is a nocturnal creature, and less is known about it. 

 There are also several kinds of winter birds which deposit seeds in knots 

 and loose bark of trees for winter use. 



The fox squirrel is the largest of the American species. It is of a reddish- 

 gray color, and inhabits the prairie groves of northern Indiana, Michigan, 

 Illinois, "Wisconsin, and other States. It is very shy of man, is hard to get a 

 sight of, and difficult to kill. 



292. Striped (iopliers {SjiennopMlus tridecemlineatus). — Perhaps, when 

 you sec the name given to this animal by natural-history writers, you may 

 imagine it is as big as its name, liiit it is not half as formidable to look at. 

 "We give the scientific name for identification, because tho word '-Gopiier," 

 in Florida, means a small land-turtle. In "Wisconsin it means a squirrel 

 somewhat like a chipmuck. In Calilbrnia it represents a ditfcrcnt amnuil. 



