220 HANDBOOK OP NATURE STUDY 



mice, rats, gophers, squirrels, rabbits, foxes, weasels, minks, 

 skunks, and others which easily find a hiding-place are 

 common in well-settled districts, and some of them have 

 become very numerous with the increase in their food 

 supply. Of the smaller rodents, mice and gophers are the 

 most common on fields and they furnish a large part of the 

 food for the smaller flesh-eating mammals and for hawks 

 and owls. 



38. The Striped Gopher. Spermophilus tridecemlineatus. 



MATERIAL: Picture; mounted specimen; gopher in cage; freshly 

 killed specimen. Outdoor observations : Cutworms and webworms. 



OUTLINE FOR LESSON 



Description. About the size of the chipmunk, but body 

 and especially the tail longer, ears shorter, nails longer, 

 more intended for digging than for climbing. Eight pale 

 yellowish-brown stripes on the back, which alternate with 

 nine yellowish-brown ones ; the five uppermost marked with 

 a row of pale spots. Voice, a clear whistle like that of a 

 bird. 



Habits. Lives in holes; hibernates; does not appear 

 until late in spring; ranges northwest from Arkansas and 

 Illinois. 



Food. About forty-five per cent of it consists of in- 

 sects, especially injurious cutworms ; the remainder consists 

 of grain, grass, and green herbs ; they do considerable dam- 

 age by digging up corn before it has sprouted. 



Observations at the Iowa Experimental Farm showed that 

 twenty-two striped gophers had eaten from April 19 to 

 August 2 an average number of twenty-six cutworms and 

 webworms daily. Mr. C. P. Gilette, who conducted the 



Observations. Leaves and fruit of tlie trees, shrubs, and vines you 

 studied iu spring and summer. 



