FOUR STRIPED GROUND-SQUIRREL. 197 



cactus, and their branches, and other portions of the large upright cactus, 

 and small branches of pine trees and other vegetable productions, suffi- 

 cient in some instances, to fill an ordinary cart. What the object of so 

 great and apparently so superfluous an assemblage of rubbish may be 

 we are at a loss to conjecture ; we do not know what peculiarly danger- 

 ous enemy it may be intended to exclude by so much labour. Their prin- 

 cipal food, at least at this season, is the seeds of the pine, which they 

 readily extract from the cones." 



We met with this species as we were descending the Upper Missouri 

 river in 1843 ; we saw it first on a tree ; afterwards we procured both 

 old and young, among the sandy gulleys and clay cliffs, on the sides of the 

 ravines near one of our encampments. 



These Ground Squirrels ascend trees when at hand and offering them 

 either shelter or food, and seem to be quite as agile as the common 

 species Tamias Lysteri. 



Dr. Richardson, who found this Ground Squirrel, during his long and 

 laborious journeyings across our great continent, says of it — " It is an ex- 

 ceedingly active little animal, and very industrious in storing up pro- 

 visions, being very generally observed with its pouches full of the seeds 

 of leguminous plants, bents and grasses. It is most common in dry sandy 

 spots, where there is much underwood, and is often seen in the summer, 

 among the branches of willows and low bushes. It is a lively restless 

 animal, troublesome to the hunter, and often provoking him to destroy it, 

 by the angry chirruping noise that it makes on his approach, and which 

 is a signal of alarm to the other inhabitants of the forest. During winter 

 it resides in a burrow with several openings, made at the roots of a tree ; 

 and is even seen on the surface of the snow. At this season, when the 

 snow disappears, many small collections of hazel-nut shells, from which 

 the kernel has been extracted by a minute hole gnawed in the side, are 

 to be seen on the ground near its holes." 



Dr. Richardson further informs us that on the banks of the Saskatcha- 

 wan, the mouths of the burrows of this species are not protected with 

 heaps of vegetable substances, as described by Mr. Say, and we have no 

 doubt the animal adapts its nest (as many of our birds do) to the lo- 

 cality and circumstances that surround it. 



These animals bite severely when captured, and probably resemble 

 Tamias Lysteri in their general habits and mode of living. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



This species was originally discovered by Say, who procured it on the 

 Rocky Mountains, near the sources of the Arkansas and Platte rivers. 



