1918 | Camp: Burrows of the Rodent Aplodontia 533 
at the entrances of their burrows early in the morning and whistling, 
something in the manner of the prairie-dog.’’ Lord (1866, pp. 346— 
358) heard whistlings in the evening which he attributed to these 
animals. Matteson (1877, pp. 484-435) reports that the aplodontia 
in Oregon ‘“‘is generally known as Mountain Boomer from his habit 
of making a kind of booming noise.’? Lum (1878, pp. 10-13) has 
never known it to make any sound by day or night, ‘‘save a kind of 
growl when caught in a trap.”’ Price (1894, pp. 315-332) speaks of 
a shrill cry heard several times when he was near a colony of mountain 
beaver. 
ENEMIES 
Most writers agree with my own conclusion that aplodontia is a 
very timid animal, but that it will fight fiercely when in a trap. Its 
clumsy movements seldom permit of its inflicting the injury that its 
strong jaws and teeth are well fitted to produce. When in pain, milky 
white tears of a sticky nature cover the small eyes of the creature. 
A pronounced lachrymal development in a burrowing animal must be 
a useful feature. 
Traps set in aplodontia burrows have caught weasels, skunks 
(both Spilogale and Mephitis), mink, and gray fox (Dixon, MS, 
1909) ; and coons (Lord, 1866, pp. 346-358), badgers, wildeats, fishers 
(Lum, 1878, pp. 10-13), and owls are to be regarded as possible ene- 
mies. Red squirrels, rabbits, and ground squirrels share the animals’ 
burrows or forage about their litter. 
Cooper (1860, p. 82) says that the school children at Astoria, 
Oregon, used to catch the awkward creatures by running them down. 
This may indicate some activity in the daytime for this species. The 
gait when running is a sort of gallop like that of a bear (Storer, MS, 
1915). Observations upon an aplodontia in captivity have shown that 
the creature runs as easily backwards as forwards; and this faculty 
must be useful in the narrow burrows. 
Economic IMpoRTANCE AND TRAPPING 
In a few localities aplodontia does some damage by eating crops 
and interfering with cultivation at the edges of the fields. Grinnell 
(MS, 1912) records it as causing trouble along the line of the Union 
Pacific Railroad over the central Sierra Nevada ‘‘by burrowing in the 
diteh walls.’’ Shelton (MS, 1916) says that, in western Oregon, 
