Striped Spermophile 
Apart from inhabiting the same region, and the fact that 
young prairie dogs form an acceptable article of diet for both 
the other members of the triumvirate, they have little to do with 
one another. The owls dig holes for themselves, though they 
may not be averse to appropriating a prairie dog’s burrow, just 
as their relatives of the woodland will use an old flicker’s hole 
or a crow’s nest. The rattlesnake, too, will no doubt take refuge 
in a burrow of either of the others, though to the discomfiture 
of the rightful owner and the probable loss of its offspring. The 
stories of the peaceful cohabitation of the beast, bird and reptile 
are, however, the result of a lively imagination. 
Striped Spermophile 
Spermophilus tridecemlineatus (Mitchell) 
Also called Striped Gopher. 
Length. 10 inches. 
Description. Back striped with six buff bands and seven wider 
brown bands, each of the latter containing a row of small 
white spots; middle bands running from the top of the head 
to the tail, others shorter; lower parts duil buff; tail rather 
short, flat and rather bushy. 
Range. Plains of the Saskatchewan; south to Texas and east to 
southern Wisconsin and Michigan, nearly the whole of Illinois, 
northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio. 
The spermophiles, closely allied to the chipmunks, form as it 
were the connecting link between the squirrels and the marmots. 
They are restricted to the prairie regions of the West, where there 
are a number of species, two of which cross the Mississippi. 
The best known and most widely distributed form is the striped 
spermophile or ‘‘striped gopher” as it is also called. Vernon 
Bailey in his report upon these animals says: ‘‘Throughout the 
prairies of the Mississippi Valley the little striped spermophile is a 
familar object as it darts through the grass to its hole or is seen 
standing upright on its hind feet, straight and motionless as a 
stick. With its short ears, smoothly rounded head, and the fore- 
feet drooping at its sides, there is no point about its outline to 
catch the eye, and at a little distance it is impossible to dis- 
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