. ZO OLO G Y. 117 



The Missouri striped ground-squirrel has five dark-brown 

 stripes on the back, separated by four gray stripes ; the sides 

 are reddish-brown, the belly grayish-white, and the tail rusty- 

 black above and rusty-brown beneath. The animal is four or 

 five inches long. It is found in the northern parts of the state. 

 It eats acorns and the seeds of the pine, manzanita, and ceaiio- 

 thus, in the thickets of which last-named bush it prefers to hide 

 its stores. 



The Spermophile has two species in California, which resem- 

 ble each other so closely, that they are usually supposed to be 

 the same ; they are popularly known as the Californian ground- 

 squirrels, the little pests which are so destructive to the grain- 

 crops. Their bodies are ten or eleven inches long in the largest 

 specimens ; the tail is eight inches long, and bushy ; the ears 

 large ; the cheeks pouched, and herein consists the chief differ- 

 ence between them and squirrels ; the color above black, yel- 

 lowish-brown, and brown, in indistinct mottlings, hoary-yel- 

 lov>"ish on the sides of the head and neck, and pale yellowish- 

 brown on the under side of the body and legs. They dwell in 

 burrows, and usually live in communities in the open, fertile 

 valleys, preferring to mate tJieir buiTOws under the shade of 

 an oak-tree. Sometimes, however, single spermophiles will be 

 found living in a solitary manner, remote from their fellows. 

 Their burrows, like those of the prairie-dog, are often used by 

 the rattlesnake and the little owl. Dr. Newberry says: "They 

 are very timid, starting at every noise, and on CA^ery intrusion 

 into their privacy dropping from the trees, or hurrying in from 

 their wanderings, and scudding to their holes with all possible 

 celerity ; arriving at the entrance, however, they stop to recon- 

 noitre, standing erect, as squirrels rarely and spermophiles 

 habitually do, and looking about to satisfy themselves of the 

 nature and designs of the intruder. Should this second view 

 justify their flight, or a motion or step forward still further 

 alarm them, with a peculiar movement, like that of a diving 

 duck, they plunge into their burrows, not to venture out till 

 all cause of fear is past. Should you in the mean time have 



