

V HUT ERR AT A. 



desert, or al all events, of stony places and sandy situations. The burrows are dry, shaped after 

 tin- fashion of 1 1 1< >-o <>t' rabbits, but always with two entrances, and with these near heaps of 

 stones; and in the bottom of these burrows they form for themselves comfortable couches of 

 leaves and other vegetable matters. They arc, to a very considerable extent, nocturnal animals, 

 and not only so, but in their nightly excursions they seek the most lonely places. The mountain 

 gullies, and the narrow strips of land by the banks <>t' rivers, where they are least likely to meet 

 with enemies, arc their chosen places, and, secure in these, they nibble the fresh hark and biulsof 

 th<' shrubs. In summer, they live upon the scanty vegetation which the arid wastes produce. 

 As is the case with the former species, they collect stores against the winter, and the people of 

 Siberia look upon them as a kind of "weather-wisers," always concluding that the storm is at 

 hand when those little animals collect their stores with more than ordinary diligence. They do 

 not collect their stores into one great magazine, as is the case with the former species, but into a 

 number of heaps of a hemispherical shape, and about a foot in diameter each, which may be seen 

 near their burrows from about the month of September through the winter; but as the spring 

 approaches they disappear, and by the time that the snow is off the ground they are nearly gone. 



They are very quick and active in their motions; but they are so timid that they are nol easily 

 tamed, and in a state of nature they are so small and feeble that they are exposed to many ene- 

 mies. 1 mring the day they are the victims of birds of prey, and in the night, the time when in 

 general they are most abroad, they are captured by lynxes, martens, and various others of the 

 w. asel tribe. 



The Northern Lagomys, L. Hyperhorcus, is less than five inches long, and is of a grayish 

 lii-own color; it is found at the northeastern extremity of Asia. The Russet Lagomys, or Red- 

 disb Si loan, /-. rufescens, inhabits the rocky hills of Cabul; the Indian Sulgan, L. i?<<y/,7, is 

 found in the Himmalayan Mountains; the Red-Shouldered Sulgax, L. Xcpalensis, is a native of 

 Nepaul. 



In our country there is a single species of Lagomys, the Little Chief Hare, L. princcps. 

 This inhabits the Rocky Mountains from latitude 52° to 60°. N. It frequents heaps of stones, in 

 the interstices of which it makes its way with facility. At sunset, it often mounts a stone and 

 calls it- mate by a shrill whistle; when surprised by man, it utters a similar cry. It feeds on 

 vegetables; its other habits are little known. 



THE COMMON ETROPEAX SQl'IISREL. 



THE SCIURID^E. 



This family, name] from Sciurus, a Squirrel, includes not only the diversified and interesting 

 tribe of Squirrels, 1-ut the Marmots and Spennophiles, animals having affinities with them, bui 

 in Borne cases, differing from them in certain important characteristics. 



Genus PTER< >MYS: Pteromys, or Flying-Marmots. — The' term Pteromys is derived from t h< 



