THE MARMOT. 499 



Its bite is remarkably severe for so small an animal, and it is of such a sour disposition that it 

 is always ready to snap at those who attempt to capture or handle it. 



Spekmophilus is a genus embracing a few little animals, which are striped or spotted like 

 the preceding, but are long-bodied and have a more slender and often shorter tail. The figure 

 of Hood's Marmot in this volume is quite characteristic of the group. They have well- 

 developed cheek-pouches. They are confined to the colder portions of North America, and 

 Europe and Asia. None are found east of the plains or prairies. They range westward to the 

 Pacific coast, and southward to the plains of Northern Mexico. Several species are remark- 

 able for their carnivorous propensities. They devour mice and such small game. The farmers 

 are troubled by their carrying off small chickens. 



Murray's "Geographical Distribution of Animals" enumerates twenty -five species, of 

 which one is extinct. Of these, nine are of the Old World, and fifteen North American. 

 Two only occur in Europe. Some of the species are called Ground Squirrels. The Line-tailed 

 Spermophilus is so called. Its habitat is Colorado and southward to Mexico. 



Franklin's Sperm ophile — or Gray-headed — is common as far east as I llin ois and Wiscon- 

 sin, though Audubon and Bachman seem to have overlooked it. Mr. Jillson, a veteran 

 taxidermist, informs us that this Spermophile was introduced into Tuckerton, New Jersey, in 

 1867, two pets having escaped. From this pair the species has increased to great numbers, 

 and they are seen in several towns nine miles in different directions from Tuckerton. They 

 inhabit the fields, but never the woodland. They are proving a pest, as the loss of young- 

 chickens and turkeys has been considerable since their introduction. 



The Bobac, or Poland Marmot, is one of the true Marmots, and is a native of parts 

 of Northern Europe and Asia. 



It is larger than the preceding animals, and appears to be of still greater dimensions, 

 owing to the full coat of thick hair with which it is profusely covered. The color of this 

 animal is a tolerably uniform gray-brown, slightly tinged with yellow, and having a "watered " 

 appearance along the back. The length of the Bobac is rather more than twenty inches, the 

 tail being about six inches long. The Bobac is a gregarious animal, living in small bands of 

 thirty or forty in number, and being always found to prefer dry to moist soil. It does not 

 seem to be fond of elevated situations, but generally takes up its residence on the sides of 

 valleys, where the temperature is not so bleak as on the mountain-top. 



Like many other burrowing animals, it lays up a store of provisions for the winter, and 

 generally chooses well-dried hay for that purpose. So hard does the animal labor at amassing 

 this treasure, that in a single burrow there is generally found as much hay as will suffice a 

 horse for a night. It is slightly variable in color, some specimens being more brown than 

 others. 



The common Marmot is about the size of an ordinary rabbit,- and not very unlike that 

 animal in color. The general tint of the fur is grayish -yellow upon the back and flanks, 

 deepening into black-gray on the top of the head, and into black on the extremity of the tail. 



It is very common in all the mountainous districts of Northern Europe, where it associates 

 in small societies. The Marmot is an expert excavator, and digs very large and rather compli- 

 cated burrows, always appearing to reserve one chamber as a storehouse for the heap of dried 

 grasses and other similar substances which it amasses for the purpose of sustaining life during 

 the winter. The chamber in which the animal lives and sleeps is considerably larger than the 

 storehouse, measuring, in some cases, as much as seven feet in diameter. The tunnel which 

 leads to these chambers is only just large enough to admit the body of the animal, and is about 

 six feet in length. 



To these burrows the Marmot retires about the middle of September, and after closing the 

 entrance with grass and earth, enters into the lethargic hibernating state, and does not emerge 

 until the beginning of April. Like other hibernating animals, they are very fat just before 

 they take up their winter-quarters, and as their fur is then in the best condition, they are 



