POCKET-GOPHERS 



grain that has recently been sown, which they carry to their 

 burrows in their capacious cheek-pouches. The males stay 

 at home for a month or five weeks longer, by which time 

 fresh food is more plentiful. 



The young are born quite destitute of fur, but with well 

 developed teeth, such as you might expect in an animal 

 which afterwards becomes so pugnacious, not to say vicious. 

 When born, eight of the youngsters weigh little more 

 than an ounce; but they grow very rapidly, and by the 

 end of the eighth or ninth day, when they first open their 

 eyes, they are about twelve times their former weight. As 

 soon as they can see they begin to make a tour round the 

 nest, as if to familiarize themselves with its architecture, for 

 after a fortnight 01 so they begin to dig on their own 

 account, and very soon the mother, who has hitherto behaved 

 towards her children in the most irreproachable manner and 

 displayed strong maternal instincts even towards youngsters 

 not her own, drives them from the burrow and compels 

 them henceforward to take care of themselves, which, indeed, 

 they prove themselves perfectly well able to do. 



Belonging to the same order as the hamster, i.e. the 

 rodents, but to a different family, there is a remarkable 

 group of rat-like animals known as the Pocket-gophers, 

 which inhabit North and Central America, being most 

 abundant on the extensive plains of the Mississippi region. 

 As you would suspect from their strange name, they are 

 creatures of great distinction, and some account of their 

 peculiar structure and habits may be interesting. We will 

 confine our attention to the common pocket-gopher (Geomys 

 bursarius), the best-known member of the group, a little, 

 brown-and-grey, white-footed animal, about seven or eight 

 inches long (not counting the rather short, thick tail), with 

 a coat of soft fur rather like that of a mole. It has very 



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