204 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



pretty sharp incline au excavation, flat at the bottom and 

 arched on top like the typical entrance to a cave, only of 

 course this is in miniature. • 



We see the entrance ; but how far down into the bowels 

 of the earth that tunnel extends no one can say without 

 digging. It is the home of the "gopher;" and, by this, 

 we do not mean the four-legged, fussy, prairie-dog creature 

 of the West that is sometimes called ■' gopher." No ; our 

 Florida gopher has four legs, it is true, but of fur he has 

 none, nor does he come out to his door like his namesake 

 and sit up "on end" to see "the world and its brother" 

 go by. Our gopher's legs are not pretty to look at ; they 

 are an ugly, dirty brownish-black, and his back is round, 

 hard and arched, and covered by a rather disreputable 

 coat, marked off in irregular checks ; it is shabby, no doubt 

 of that, but it wears well, and he needs never to go to his 

 tailor for repairs; his head is flat and his nose pointed, 

 and his neck long and scrawny. Altogether, we don't 

 boast of our gopher on the score of beauty ; we are afraid 

 he would not take the first premium on that count ; but 

 just catch him, and make soup of liim, and you will there- 

 after not speak slightingly of the lowly gopher, who is only 

 a tortoise. How are you to catch him.? 



Well, we hinted at the means a while ago when we men- 

 tioned the noose as a food - provider. All through the 

 spring and summer months, in fact almost through the 

 whole year, except December and January, the gopher 

 comes waddling out from its home every day, and usually 

 between the hours of ten and two o'clock. 



It travels slowly around, perhaps visiting its neighbors, 

 or only taking a health j^romenade in search of roots, 

 grasses, and cow-peas — it being very fond of the latter, 

 greatly to their detriment. Sometimes, especially in the 

 spring, there are eggs to be laid ; and when this is the case 



