A RARE DISTINCTION 



small eyes and ears, and its neck is hardly worth mention- 

 ing ; but it has remarkably strong feet, the fore paws being 

 armed with long, curved claws. Its great claim to distinc- 

 tion, however, consists in the possession of a pair of large 

 fur-lined pouches which open outside the cheeks, and are 

 put, as we shall see presently, to a peculiar use. 



The pocket-gopher spends practically the whole of its life 

 underground, where it makes long tunnels about a foot 

 below the surface for the purpose of reaching the roots of 

 plants, which form the chief part of its food. At the foot 

 of some large tree it sinks a deep, winding passage, at the 

 end of which, four or five feet from the surface of the 

 ground, it makes a large living-room. The chamber is 

 usually furnished with a bed of soft grass, with the addition, 

 when it is used as a nursery, of a quantity of fur which the 

 mother takes from her own coat, just as a rabbit does. At 

 one side of the living-room there is usually the opening of 

 a second passage which leads to another chamber, in which 

 the animal stores quantities of roots, nuts, and in cultivated 

 districts pieces of potato. 



Dr. Merriam, who observed the animals very closely, states 

 that in digging their tunnels they use their strong upper 

 teeth, or incisors, as a pick to loosen the earth. "At the 

 same time the fore feet are kept in active operation, both in 

 digging and in pressing the earth back under the body, and 

 the hind feet are also used in moving it still further back- 

 wards. When a sufficient quantity has accumulated behind 

 the animal, he immediately turns in the burrow, and by 

 bringing the wrists together under the chin with the palm 

 of the hands held vertically, forces himself along by the 

 hind feet, pushing the earth out in front. When an open- 

 ing in the tunnel is reached, the earth is discharged through 

 it, forming a little hillock."" The curious cheek-pouches, or 



45 



