202 GNAWING ANIMALS 



hole and poises himself over its wide mouth, in readiness for 

 a dive to subterranean safety. If the danger approaches quite 

 near, the alarm cry resounds shrilly from all sides, stubby 

 tails jerk nervously as if worked by wires, and down goes 

 every Prairie- 4 * Dog." 



Just how far down the burrows go, it is difficult to say, 

 for they probably vary greatly in depth. The mouth of a 

 burrow is a miniature model of a volcano, a conical mound 

 of bare earth, a foot high and three or four feet in diameter, 

 with a four-inch crater in the centre, going down at a slight 

 angle. The crater prevents water from running into the 

 burrow. 



In making a crater the "Dogs" press the earth into shape 

 on the inside with their noses. . Once when an inmate of the 

 Prairie-" Dog" village in the New York Zoological Park in- 

 curred the hostility of four of his mates, they drove him into 

 his burrow, filled up the mouth of it with moist earth, and 

 with their noses tamped it down quite hard, the prisoner 

 scolding vigorously meanwhile. 



Prairie-' 'Dogs" are easily introduced into almost any open 

 country where the ground is dry, but they are very difficult 

 to exterminate. Under fair conditions they breed readily in 

 captivity, and usually produce four young at a birth. In 

 1899, a free colony was established in the New York Zoological 

 Park, in the Antelope Range, where it existed for two years, 

 and its saucy members attracted far more attention than 

 those confined in the fenced village. Knowing that guns and 

 dogs are not allowed in the park, they often permitted visitors 

 to pass within six feet of them. But it proved impossible to 



