384 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



pine and redwood forests of the State. He is gray above and 

 red beneath, with a black stripe separating the two colors. He 

 lives in a burrow or hollow log, but climbs well, and obtains 

 his food chiefly from the pine-cones, which he cuts off in num- 

 bers at a time, and tears to pieces at his leisure, after they 

 have fallen to the ground. He lays up a store of the seed in 

 his burrow, for his winter supply. He is quick in his motions, 

 graceful in his attitudes, and shy in his habits. 



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 ceano- 

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

 hide its stores. 



Report says a flying squirrel has been found in Mendocino 

 County, but I believe it has never been described. 



306. /Spermophiles. The spermophile has two species in 

 California, which resemble 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 

 poucheci, and herein consists the chief difference between 

 them and squirrels; the color above, black, yellowish-brown, 

 and brown, in distinct mottlings, hoary-yellowish 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 usu- 

 ally live in communities in the open, fertile valleys, prefer- 

 ring to make their burrows under the shade of an oak-tree. 

 Sometimes, however, single spermophiles will be found living 

 in a solitary manner, remote from their fellows. Their bur- 

 rows, like those of the prairie-dog, are often used by the rat- 



