32 NEW TEACKS IN NOETH AMEBIC A. 



appear to take a most lively interest in "tlie advance of 

 empire," for wherever there is a road, there they congregate 

 in nnnsTial numbers. In the centre of the main street at 

 Salina, three of these little fellows had established them- 

 selves, they seemed to enjoy the bustle of that place, and 

 were the great deligh| jof the children, who used to feed them 

 with nuts and crackers, and get them to sit upon their 

 haunches, and eat with their claws. To frighten or kill one 

 would have brought down the just indignation of the wliole 

 neighbom'hood. As our line of wagons moved along the 

 road, and approached a " dog-town," the little fellows who 

 were above ground, cropping the grass and playing about, 

 would immediately rush each to his " look-out station " on 

 the top of his mound, while lots of little heads would sud- 

 denly appear as those from below came up to see the fun 

 and join in the chorus of sharp barks with which they were 

 wont to greet intruders. They would shake their sides with 

 barking, and at every bark the tails would wag until, worked 

 up to a climax of fear and delight, they would rush into the 

 earth with a volley of half-uttered barks, and a last defiant 

 wag of the little tail. JSTo sooner had we passed than tbey 

 would appear again, and keep up a chorus of adieus until we 

 were out of hearing. Their flesh is good to eat, being very 

 much like squirrel or chicken ; but they are too sharp to be 

 caught away from the top of their mounds, and if shot in tnis 

 position they always fall into their holes, and die out of reacn. 

 The only way to get them is to drown them out by pouring 

 water into their holes, and if the subterranean connections 

 are extensive, or the soil very porous, this cannot be accom- 

 plished. 



It has been stated by western travellers that the rattle- 

 snake and a small species of owl live in peace with the 



