The Haymakers of the Snow Peaks 



r 



well as to make a very respectable antagonist 

 to the average terrier. 



The sewellels live in wet places, where the 

 ground is soft, rich and overrun with rank 

 vegetation, " preferably," writes Dr. Merriam, 

 " in springy, sloping ground, where their in- 

 numerable burrows are kept wet by the cold, 

 trickling water." In fact, settlers complain 

 that their burrows often start bad washouts in 

 the hillsides, especially in clover-fields, a plant 

 of which they are as fond as are the woodchucks. 

 In such places they often exist in a numerous 

 colony whose underground passages are con- 

 nected in a neighborly way; and early in the 

 morning a dozen or so may often be seen sit- 

 ting at the entrances to their subterranean 

 homes, and " whistling like prairie dogs," as 

 one writer puts it. Long ago the Oregon people 

 named them " boomers," in reference to the hol- 

 low tone of their voices. 



These little folks, like the pikas and beavers 

 of which they remind us, must store winter sup- 

 plies, and in the late summer " they cut various 

 plants, commonly rank or woody kinds, which 



