ZOOLOGY MAMMALS. 81 



spring of the western regions and the edges of perpetual snow on the mountains, would be 

 equal to many degrees of latitude on the eastern coast, and judging from analogous facts should 

 have an influence on these characters. Their principal food on the eastern slopes of the Cascade 

 mountains was the pine nut, and during September I observed them very busy extracting these 

 from the still hanging cones, ascending the trees to a considerable height, though at other times 

 they rarely leave the ground. I find it stated in my notes tliat they had there a similar shrill 

 cry to that of the eastern species. 



Specimens from Shoal water bay measure : male, head and body, 5| inches ; tail, 4 to 5 inches ; 

 head, 1^; ear, | — |. From Steilacoom, Pugel-'s Island: male, 5^; tail, 4^; foreleg 2^; hind leg, 

 3 inches. Female, 6 ; tail, 4 ; fore leg, 3 ; hind leg, 3^ inches. 



SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI. 



California Ground Squirrel. 



•lirctomys ( Spermophibts) beeckeyi, Richardson, Fauna Boreali-Americana, I, 1829, 170; plate xii, B. 

 Spermophilus beeche , F. Cuuer, Suppl. Buffon, I, Mamm. 1831, 331. 



BiiRD, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, 1855, 334.— Ib. Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 307. 



Sp. Ch. — Size of the cat squirrel, S. cinereus. Ears large, prominent. Tail more than two-thirds as long as the body. 

 Above mi.ved black, yellowish brown, and brown in indistinct moltlings ; beneath, pale yellowish brown. Sides of head and 

 neck, hoary yellowish, more or less lined with black, a more distinct stripe of the same, from behind the ears on each side, 

 extending above the shoulders to the middle of the body. Ears black on their inner face. Dorsal space between the stripes 

 scarcely darker than the rest of the back. Length, 9 to 11 inches ; tail, with hairs, 7 to 9. Hind feet, 2 to 2.3U inches. 



The marmot squirrel, called ground .squirrel in Santa Clara valley, is found in incredible 

 numbers in all the level or low land southward from San Francisco bay. It is one of the greatest 

 pests to the farmer, destroying immense quantities of grain, and in spite of poisoning, 

 drowning-out, shooting, .and trapping, seems rather to increase than diminish in numbers. In 

 travelling along the public road in a stage coach they are to be seen on every side, sitting 

 boldly at the mouth of their burrow as the vehicle passes within a few yards, as if defyincr 

 danger, those furthest off raised on their hind legs to have a better view, and looking like short 

 gray stumps, so motionless do they sit. 



If one is fired at it disappears as if by magic, and even if you are fortunate enough to .shoot 

 it at a distance from any burrow, it will spend its last breath in the attempt to reach one, so 

 that unless its head is shot off by a rifle ball, the chance of getting it is very small. But they 

 may often be recovered by feeling for them with the ramrod when dead near the mouth of the 

 burrow. 



They are very fine eating, and formerly sold well in San Francisco market, but since strych- 

 nine has been used to kill them, no oue will buy them for fear of being poi.soned. 



When startled and about to run into their burrow, they make a shrill screaming cry, somewhat 

 like that of our eastern striped squirrel, when frightened. 



It is said that these animals will often destroy 30 or 40 acres of wheat in a field, cutting off 

 the heads and leaving none behind in their progress. Magazines of theirs are found in digging 

 wells, thirty feet below the surface, and from the large pile of earth thrown out at the mouth of 

 their burrows they must be very extensive. There are commonly two or three entrances near 

 together, which probably communicate, and in many places these holes occur every few yards, 

 so that there may be several hundred in an acre, and many appear to inhabit one burrow. 



They are very hard to drive away from their homes, rem.aining in the fenced gardens and 

 about houses until they are killed. Being entirely diurnal in habits, and appearing most 

 abundantly in the hottest part of the day, they are exposed to many enemies besides man, and 

 11 Q 



