THE RODENTS, OR GNAWING ANIMALS 151 



which has left society and settled down in a suburb. The little creatures known in America as 

 PRAIRIE-DOGS have in Northern Europe and the steppes of Asia some first cousins, called 

 SUSLIKS. Both live in colonies, burrow quickly and well, feed on grass, and have a habit of sit- 

 ting bolt upright outside their holes, keeping a lookout for enemies. The prairie-dogs also bark 

 like a little dog when alarmed. Before going to sleep, the latter always carry the dry grass on 

 which they slept out of their burrow, and carefully bite up into short lengths a fresh supply to 

 make their beds. The susliks and prairie-dogs are of a khaki colour, like the sand in which they 

 delight to burrow. Every one has heard that the little burrowing-owls live in the same holes in 

 company with the prairie-dogs, and that the rattlesnake sometimes eats both the young prairie- 

 dogs and the young owls. An acquaintance of the writer who had killed a rattlesnake actually 



By fermission of the New Tori Zoological Society 



PRAIRIE-DOGS, OR MARMOTS 



A most characteristic picture. It shows the prairie-dogs' method of holding their food while they eat, or cutting up grass to make their beds 



took a young prairie-dog from its mouth. The snake had not struck it with the poison, but had 

 begun to swallow it uninjured. It was still alive, and recovered. 



The suslik was once found in England ; its remains, with those of other steppe animals, are 

 found in the river gravels and brick earth in the London basin. The prairie-dogs form a kind 

 of connecting-link between the susliks and the true marmots. They have short ears, short tails, 

 rounded bodies, and possess great powers of digging. When a prairie-dog has nothing better to 

 do, it usually spends its time either in digging holes or in cutting up grass or anything handy to 

 make its bed with. Young prairie-dogs are not so large as a mouse when born. The adult 

 animals feed almost entirely on grass and weeds in their wild state ; they seem quite independent 

 of water, and able to live in the driest places. 



The ALPINE MARMOT is a much larger species than the prairie-dog. It lives on the Alps 

 just below the line of perpetual snow. From five to fifteen marmots combine in colonies, dig 

 very deep holes, and, like the prairie-dogs, carefully line them with grass ; they also store up dry 



