THE CANADA POUCHED RAT, OR MULO. 609 



The CANADA POUCHED RAT is sometimes known by the name of " Mulo," and 

 occasionally by that of " Gopher." 



The incisor teeth of this animal are extremely long, and project beyond the lip, so 

 as to be visible even at a profile view. The cheek-pouches are of great dimensions, 

 measuring nearly three inches in depth, and reaching from the sides of the mouth to 

 the insertion of the shoulder. They are lined with a soft covering of short fine hairs. 

 The total length of the Canada Pouched Rat is about one foot, the tail being two 

 inches long. The weight of an ordinary sized adult specimen is about fourteen ounces. 

 In shape, it is heavily made and very clumsy, bearing no slight resemblance to the ordi- 

 nary mole of our own country. Its fur is about half an inch in length upon the back, 

 and much shorter upon the abdomen. Its color is a reddish-brown on the upper parts 

 of the body, fading into ashy-brown upon the abdomen, and the feet are white. The 

 first third of the tail is clothed with short hair of the same color as that of the back, 

 but the remaining two-thirds are devoid of hairy covering. 



This animal is a burrower, and is most destructive among plantations, as it is in the 

 habit of eating the roots which happen to intercept the course of its tunnel, and has been 

 known thus to destroy upwards of two hundred young trees in a few days and nights. 

 Its ravages are not solely restricted to young plants, but are often extended to old and 

 fullgrown fruit-trees. It continues its labor by day as well as by night, but is not 

 readily discovered at its work, as it always ceases its labor at the least sound from 

 above. The burrows of the Mulo are rather complicated, and are well described in the 

 following extract from Audubon and Bachman. 



" Having observed some freshly thrown up mounds in M. Chouteau's garden, several 

 servants were called and set to work to dig out the animals if practicable alive ; and we 

 soon dug up several galleries worked by the Muloes, in different directions. 



One of the main galleries was about a foot beneath the surface of the ground, except 

 when it passed under the walks, in which places it was sunk rather lower. We turned 

 up this entire gallery, which led across a large garden-bed and two walks into another 

 bed, where we discovered that several fine plants had been killed by these animals 

 eating off their roots just beneath the surface of the ground. The burrow ended near 

 these plants under a large rose-bush. We then dug out another principal burrow, but 

 its terminus was among the roots of a large peach-tree, some of the bark of which had 

 been eaten off by these animals. W T e could not capture any of them at this time, 

 owing to the ramification of their galleries having escaped our notice whilst following 

 the main burrows. On carefully examining the ground, we discovered that several 

 galleries existed that appeared to run entirely out of the garden into the open fields 

 and woods beyond, so that we were obliged to give up the chase. This species throws 

 up the earth in little mounds about twelve or fifteen inches in height, at irregular dis- 

 tances, sometimes near each other, and occasionally ten, twenty, or even thirty paces 

 asunder, generally opening near a surface well covered with grass or vegetables of 

 various kinds." 



The burrow was probably sunk lower wherever it crossed a path, because the sense 

 of hearing in this animal is so extremely acute, that it would be much annoyed by the 

 continual sound of human footsteps immediately over its head. 



Although it spends the greater part of its existence beneath the earth, it is frequently 

 seen above the surface of the ground, as it resorts to the open air for the purpose of 

 basking in the sun, or procuring leaves which have been brightened and vivified by the 

 rays of th*e sun, as a change from the roots on which it chiefly depends for subsistence. 

 When it revisits the regions of upper day, it emerges from the earth in some hitherto 

 unbroken spot, pushing the soil upwards and causing a kind of miniature earthquake 

 before it makes its appearance. Presently the head and shoulders of the animal emerge 

 from the lump of earth, and shaking the loose mould from its fur, it draws itself entirely 

 out of its burrow. It then runs forward for a yard or two, searching for food, nibbling 

 off the green blades with its teeth, and stowing them into its cheek-pouches with the 

 aid of its fore-paws. When it has filled the pouches, it runs back to the hole through 

 which it had issued, and vanishes immediately from sight. 



Should it be alarmed while out of its tunnel, it plunges precipitately into its strong- 



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