662 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



Probably because of the open nature of their forage ground, these 

 squirrels seem exceptionally timid. The shrill cries of alarm greeting 

 the invader of a meadow upon his approach are quickly followed by 

 total disappearance of the animals, at least for the time being. Each 

 individual seems not to wander usually more than a few yards from 

 the mouth of its burrow, so that but a short run intervenes at any 

 moment between it and safety. The tail is held down when running, 

 not elevated nor waved. The gait is rather slow and clumsy, impressing 

 one observer as resembling that of a short-legged dog. ^' "Where the 

 grass is short there is little up-and-down movement of the body shown 

 in running; but in high grass, instead of parting the stalks and pressing 

 them aside as it progresses, the animal advances by a series of jumps 

 each of which carries it up clear of the grass so that it can glimpse 

 about for a possible enemy" (T- I. Storer, MS). 



When within but a few feet of the mouth of its burrow and first 

 taking alarm, a squirrel will rise quickly on its haunches and assume 

 the rigid, upright, "picket-pin" posture (see fig. 20c). This usually 

 brings the animal's head well above the grass tops, so that it can get a 

 good view all about. Also it can then be seen a long way, looking in 

 the distance like a tent-stake or picket-pin out on the meadow. During 

 this pose the fore limbs are pressed closely against the body. Some- 

 times the animal rises still higher, supporting its whole body on its hind 

 feet and using its stubby tail as a prop (C. L. Camp, MS). The fact 

 that the nose is continually twitched up and down, as if the animal 

 were drawing in air, suggests that the sense of smell may be keen and 

 that it may be used to determine the nature of a supposed enemy. If 

 the observer continues his approach the squirrel suddenly deserts its 

 "picket-pin" pose and dashes for its burrow, where it may hesitate a 

 moment on all fours for one final look before diving out of sight. 



The voice of this squirrel closely resembles that of the Oregon Ground 

 Squirrel. The usual call of warning consists of a series of from five to 

 eight short shrill whistles uttered in quick succession and weakening 

 toward the last. Females warn their young when foraging abroad with 

 a lower-pitched, double note, or bark, e-cherV . A single note, sirt, is 

 also frequently heard. 



The burrows of the Belding Ground Squirrel are generally located 

 in the meadows which form their forage grounds. Sometimes, near 

 timber line, one finds them in the scant gravelly soil between granite 

 boulders, but always in or near patches of the kind of bunch grass 

 occurring at such altitudes. The mounds are rarely conspicuous, and 

 the holes open up to the surface steeply. Often there is no surplus 

 earth at all around the mouths of the burrows, but this condition might 

 be accounted for by the effects of M^ashing from heavy rain or melting 

 snow. Several measurements of burrows gave an average diameter of 

 two inches. The extent of the underground burrow system has only 

 been tested out in one instance (see fig. 21). In this case the burrow 

 was located in a wet meadow, snowbanks melting all about at the time 

 (June 28), and it proved to be shallow, reaching an extreme depth of 

 only about thirteen inches. But blind branches directed downward 

 indicated the probability of greater depth later in the season when the 

 water table had lowered and the soil dried out. The total length of 

 this burrow system, including all its branches, was close to 54 feet. 



