112 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



or once in a while an adventuresome individual 

 in a mesquite tree harvesting blossoms. There 

 is nothing prepossessing in the appearance of 

 the round-tailed ground squirrels. The ear 

 conchs are so narrow as to be mere rims, and 

 this gives the head a sort of roundish, bald 

 aspect. The tail is quite bare of hairs and the 

 pelage is almost always coarse. Nevertheless, 

 we must account them interesting little crea- 

 tures because of the unique place they occupy 

 among the small mammals of the arid regions 

 of the extreme Southwest. 



Of the several species inhabiting the desert 

 region, the Death Valley ground squirrel has 

 the distinction of occupying a region wholly 

 below sea level in the lowest, hottest place on 

 our continent, a habitat such as no other North 

 American rodent can boast of. The Yuma 

 round-tailed ground squirrel dwells in the low- 

 lying, sandy region in the vicinity of the Colo- 

 rado River in California, and the Imperial 

 Valley north to the Salton Sea. The north- 

 western arm of the Colorado Desert, from the 

 Salton Sea to the San Gorgonio Pass, is inhab- 

 ited by the Palm Springs round-tailed ground 



