400 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



awkward, shambling 1 run, and that is so slow that any animal 

 of greater speed than the porcupine could readily overtake it, 

 even when pressed to its best puce by fear. 



Its fur is thick and tolerably fine. Its outer tinge is a 

 reddish-brown, but the inner approaches a bluish-grey at the 

 base. The density of its coating 1 made it at one time an object 

 of pursuit by the Indians ; but since the introduction of civi- 

 lization and cotton goods they capture it mainly for its flesh, 

 which they consider to possess high gastronomic qualities. 

 The robe made of its fur gave the animal the name by which 

 it is now 7 known to the majority of the hunters and the coast 

 Indians of the North-west. Lewis and Clark, who were sent 

 out by the American Government in 1804 to explore the 

 country between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, 

 heard of it from the Clatsop Indians, and in their work they 

 mentioned that " it could burrow in the ground, and climb a 

 tree like a squirrel/' As they had not seen it, in all proba- 

 bility, they took their statements from the Chinooks; and 

 Indian assertions in matters appertaining to Natural History 

 are not always famous for their correctness. This tribe used a 

 robe made of its fur, which they called " she-wel-el," and the 

 explorers applied this name to the animal itself, although it 

 was not the one used by the red man. The Nisqually Indians 

 of Washington Territory call it the " showtl ; " hence the 

 application of both names in its denomination. The male and 

 female are exact copies of each other, except that the latter is 

 a little the smaller. She produces two litters a year, the first 

 appearing in spring, the other in autumn, and the number of 

 young at a birth is usually from four to six. The nest in 

 which they are nurtured resembles that of the rabbit in form, 

 and is usually placed in the darkest part of the burrow. The 

 first family is cared for by the parents until the second appears; 

 but, according to Indian tales, the members are expected to set 

 up housekeeping for themselves after that time. 



The showtl is quite social in character, and, though not so 

 gregarious as the prairie dog, yet it seems very much attached 

 to its kindred in the colony. This colony generally consists of 

 from a dozen to a hundred families, and they, apparently, live 



