PRAIRIE POCKET- GOPHERS 



these little animals are known to take water into 

 their systems is through the juices in the vege- 

 tables which they eat. For this reason the 

 watermelons were a great delicacy and the greedy 

 little hermits did all in their power to uncon- 

 sciously destroy as many melons as possible. 

 The pumpkins shared the same fate and bits 

 of cucumbers were found scattered upon the 

 ground where these selfish, energetic little brutes 

 had cut them into small pieces to place them in 

 their cheek-pockets that they might be carried 

 away to their store-houses. 



The pioneer gopher of the hillside had now 

 grown old and gray. His teeth were not as 

 strong nor as sharp as they used to be. His 

 little eyes, that never were very good, left him 

 almost totally blind in his old days. Still age 

 and experience, with his natural instinct, helped 

 him to keep out of the reach of his enemies and 

 the farmer's traps that were destroying so many 

 of his kind. The ground made loose by the 

 farmer's plough was easy to dig and he found 

 many luxuries which he had never tasted before. 



The feeble old gopher, perhaps through force 

 of habit, or because he was old and could not 



