THE LANDING. 247 



ter. I liavc carefully noted tlic conditions of thirteen 

 such burrows, which ranged from seven to thirty feet in 

 length. Every one was tortuous except the longest, 

 whFch can better be described as wavy. In no instance 

 could I find any evidence that dirt had been brought to 

 the surface more than sufficient to fill about one-twen- 

 tieth to one-fiftieth of the area of the tunnel, and prob- 

 ably in every case this was an over-estimate. Of this 

 series of thirteen burrows none was more than a month 

 old, and there had been no rains in that time sufficiently 

 copious to have washed away all trace of newly exposed 

 dirt. The main entrance to five ^vas a perpendicular 

 descent varying from tw^o to five feet in depth, and I 

 claim that this animal has no power to bring to the sur- 

 face, when forced to back out of its burrow, any signifi- 

 cant quantity of loose earth ; and even if the diameter 

 of the burrow was sufficient to enable it to turn about, 

 it could not then remove any important amount of loose 

 soil except it spent hours at the w^ork ; and this I am 

 positive it does not do. The excavation of a tunnel is 

 not the labor of a month, and so long a time would be 

 necessary if every particle of detached earth was brought 

 to the entrance of the burrow. 



Some of the tunnels examined by me extended in 

 from the face of the bluff about three feet, and then 

 turned at a right angle and ran parallel to it for a con- 

 siderable distance. Some made two or three abrupt 

 turns, and had one or more roomy excavations besides, 

 wherein food is stored. Kow if the displaced earth 

 was removed by these animals in small quantities, as by 

 filling their cheek pouches with it— which they probably 



