MARMOTS— SUSLIKS— PRAIRIE-MARMOTS 



335 



In summer woodchucks live on open plains, in the Adirondack Mountains 

 chiefly in meadows or slopes of rocky hills close to cultivated country, where they 

 make their burrows in order to graze on the grass and clover. They feed by day 

 and night and at any hour of the day, according to the season, the weather, and 

 their feeling of security. In cultivated districts they appear abroad in summer 

 generally only in the early mornings, late in the afternoons, and on moonlight nights. 

 In autumn they venture out only in tine weather, and even then only during the 

 warmest hours of the day. About the 21st of September, woodchucks regularly 

 retire into their holes, unaffected by the warmth or other conditions of the weather, 

 or even the quantity of their food ; and in the middle or the second half of March 

 they leave them again, even though the ground be still covered with snow. 





ar 



PRAIRIE-MARMOTS. 



Susliks. 



The susliks or gophers of the United States all belong to the 

 long-tailed group. One of these, the long-eared gopher (Spermophilus 

 grammurus), which, inclusive of its subspecies, ranges from Colorado to California, 

 is not only distinguished by its long bushy tail, but also by its long hairy ears. The 

 most familiar American species is, however, the striped gopher (8. iridecemlineatus), 

 mentioned on p. 321, which, with its local races, ranges from Canada to Texas, and is 

 distinguished by its small ears and remarkable colouring. The back of this gopher 

 is dark rufous brown with from six to eight light stripes running along it, -and 

 alternating with from five to seven rows of light spots, the yellowish brown lower- 

 parts being edged by a narrow yellow-edged black stripe. 



Another group of the squirrel family is formed by the prairie- 

 marmots, or prairie-dogs, which are common to North America and 

 Asia and intermediate between marmots and susliks in size, with small ears, 



Prairie-Marmots. 



