PRAIRIE DOGS. 159 
to a bull-dog puppy, the incisors like those of a squirrel, body 
about the size of a common rabbit, and tail like that of the 
chip squirrel. i. 
The immense numbers of these animals in one of their 
towns, may be estimated from the fact, that we passed ten 
miles through this town, and allowing it to extend the same 
distance in other directions, we have an area of one hundred 
Square miles, when by estimating the burrows at seven feet 
apart, the usual distance, and six dogs to a hole, we have a 
population not to be exceeded by any city in the world. 
They are found all over the far western prairies, from Mexico 
to the northern limits of the states, and always select the sites 
for their towns upon the most elevated lands, where there is 
no water, sometimes none for many miles, but where grows 
a species of short, wiry grass, upon which they feed. 
This has induced many to believe that they do not require 
water, and as no rains or dews fall during the summer 
months upon these elevated plains, and the dogs never 
wander far from home, the conclusion is warranted that they 
require no water beyond what the grass affords. That they 
hybernate is evidenced from the fact that they lay up no 
store for the winter, and this grass dries up in the autumn. 
The Indians say that they may be seen, towards the last of 
October, busy with weeds and grass, stopping up every 
passage to their burrows, and if they re-open them again 
before spring, mild and pleasant weather is sure to follow. 
