8o 



RODENTS. 



in the middle line, bordered on the sides with yellowish, with a narrow black band 

 running between the two tints. This species ranges from the Red River in 

 Canada to Texas. The long-eared gopher (S. grammurus), ranging from Colorado 

 to California, may be cited as an example of another group of the genus, in which 

 the ears are very large, and often fringed with long hairs, while the tail is very 

 long and bushy. Fossil remains show that susliks were more widely distributed 

 in Europe during the Pleistocene period than they are at the present day ; some of 

 their remains having been discovered in the brick-earths of the Thames Valley. 



All the susliks are social and burrowing animals, generally 

 selecting open plains, with a sandy or clayey soil, for the construction 

 of their domiciles, and studiously avoiding forests or swampy districts. The burrows 

 of the common suslik are as much as from six to eight feet in depth, and have each 



Habits. 



THE COMMON SUSLIK (J nat. size). 



but a single entrance. When, however, these animals retire to the depths of their 

 burrows for their winter sleep, they excavate a second passage from the sleeping- 

 chamber to within a short distance from the surface of the ground. On awakening 

 in the spring, an exit is made through this second passage, and the original entrance 

 blocked up ; and hence the length of time that a suslik-burrow has been occupied 

 is indicated by the number of these deserted entrances around it. Within the 

 burrow a large quantity of food, such as roots, seeds, berries, etc., is accumulated 

 in the summer and autumn for winter use. Susliks will, however, also eat mice 

 and small birds and their eggs. The young are born in the spring, and usually 

 comprise from four to eight in a litter. If captured sufficiently young, susliks can 

 be easily tamed ; and their flesh is much esteemed by the peasants of North-Eastern 

 Europe and Siberia. 



In America all the more northern species pass the colder portion of the year 

 in a state of hibernation, but in the more southern portion of their range the period 



