SOIURID^— SPERMOPHILUS FRANKLIN!. 



883 



Uneatus. It is met with, liowever, in far less numbers than the latter, and 

 has a greater preference for tiiickets, low bushes, and borders of timber. It 

 does not appear to extend westward beyond the eastern edge of the great 

 plains, and is hence confined to a rather narrow belt of country, extending 

 irom Northern Missouri northward to considerably beyond Great Slave Lake. 

 Audubon and Bachman refer to a specimen obtained by Mr. Townsend, and 

 give the species, on Mr. Townsend's authority, as an inhabitant of Oregon. 

 This is doubtless a mistake, S.franklini not having been met with by other 

 observers much to the westward of the Missouri River. 



This species also occurs in New Jersey, where it is rapidly increasing 

 in numbers. I learned of its introduction there through Mr. Samuel Jillson, 

 who first wrote me about it some three or four years since. Writing him 

 recently for further information respecting the date and manner of its intro- 

 duction, as well as for information respecting its present numbers and the 

 area of its range, he has kindly replied as follows, under date of " Tuck- 

 erton, New Jersey, May 6, 1877": — " The date of its introduction is May, 

 1867, when a single pair was brought here by Mr. Sylvester Mathis, from 

 Illinois. This pair soon gnawed out of their cage and escaped. This was 

 in the village of Tuckerton. They are now found in Manahawken, nine 

 miles north of Tuckerton, and also four miles south of Tuckerton, and very 

 likely farther. They are very common on all the farms about here, three 

 miles from the village [of Tuckerton]. They seem to always keep in the 

 fields, as I have never seen them in the woods. I find very little dirt at the 

 mouth of their burrows, sometimes none. From one to two buckets of water 

 poured into their holes will bring them out. We kill all we can on our farm. 

 They destroy young chickens and turkeys, and the dogs dig large holes in 

 our fields in trying to get at the Gophers. I once found one in a salt-hay 

 slack, in spring, dead, coiled up in the smallest ball possible. I also found 

 one dead in my barn-well. I think many of them winter in stacks and under 

 outbuildings, for I could never drown out any late in the fall, in the flat fields. 

 They are never seen here in winter, and no doubt are then dormant. Please 

 excuse my not answering your inquiries sooner, for I wanted to find out the 

 exact date of their introduction." 



I am also indebted to Dr. Coues for calling my attention to an article on 

 this subject by Mr. N. II. Bishop, of Lake George, Warren County, New York, 

 dated December, 1876, and published in tiie Forest and Stream newspaper in its 

 issue of January 4, 1877. The facts presented by Mr. Bisiiop respecting their 



