AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMITE 201 



climate, I found a nice garden, full of rock cress, 

 phlox, silene, draba, etc., and a few grasses ; and 

 in this garden I overtook the wanderer, enjoy- 

 ing a fine fresh meal, perhaps the first of the 

 season. How did he know the way to this 

 one garden spot, so high and far off, and what 

 told him that it was in bloom while yet the snow 

 was ten feet deep over his den ? For this it 

 would seem he would need more botanical, topo- 

 graphical, and climatological knowledge than 

 most mountaineers are possessed of. 



The shy, curious mountain beaver, Haplo- 

 don, lives on the heights, not far from the 

 woodchuck. He digs canals and controls the 

 flow of small streams under the sod. And it is 

 startling when one is camped on the edge of a 

 sloping meadow near the homes of these indus- 

 trious mountaineers, to be awakened in the still 

 night by the sound of water rushing and gurg- 

 ling under one's head in a newly formed canal. 

 Pouched gophers also have a way of awakening 

 nervous campers that is quite as exciting as the 

 Haplodon's pain ; that is, by a series of firm up- 

 ward pushes when they are driving tunnels and 

 shoving up the dirt. One naturally cries out, 

 "Who's there?" and then discovering the 

 cause, " All right. Go on. Good-night," and 

 goes to sleep again. 



The haymaking pika, bob-tailed spermophile, 

 and wood-rat are also among the most interest- 



