306 The Rodentia — Suslik and G-opheb. 



and minute ears. The long-eared species (Spermophilis- 

 grammurus), whose range is on the Western Continent 

 from the Mississippi valley to California, has a long bushy 

 tail and large tufted ears. The thirteen lined or Leopard 

 Spermophile (Spermophilis-trideeemlineatus), which is • 

 the commonest species in America, and is found from the 

 Red River to Texas, has small ears and a tail about two- 

 thirds as long as its eight-inch body. In color it is dark 

 reddish above with six to eight longitudinal light stripes, 

 alternating with from five to seven rows of light spots. 

 The under parts are yellowish brown in the middle, bor- 

 dered on the sides with yellow and a narrow black band 

 runs between the two tints. 



All species of Susliks prefer the open plains for their 

 burrows, which descend from six to eight feet, and have 

 but a single entrance. When the animals retire for their 

 winter sleep they make a second passage from their sleep- 

 ing chamber, to within a short distance from the surface. 

 Through this they make their exit when they awaken in 

 the spring, and block up the original entrance. 



The roots, seeds and berries for the winter's supply 

 of food are accumulated in the summer and autumn, dur- 

 ing which time the Susliks will also eat mice and small 

 birds and their eggs. The young are born in the spring, 

 from four to eight to a litter. 



The striped Spermophiles of North America are more 

 carnivorous than their European cousins. In the extreme 

 southern part of their habitat they remain active all 

 winter, but the northern species hibernate during the cold 

 weather. 



Parry's Suslik (Spermophilis-empetra), a species close- 

 ly allied to Evermann's Suslik, is found in the vicinity of 

 Hudson Bay and the Bering Sea. 



It is hard to understand why the graceful, slender, kindly 

 dispositioned Spermophiles are ever confounded with the 

 thieving Pocket Gophers, who belong to a separate family, 

 the members of which are all so ill tempered that they 

 hate one another. Possibly it is because both of these 

 animals make their burrows deep down in the ground 

 below the frost line. 



The habitat of the Plying Squirrel is more restricted 

 than that of the other true squirrels, but there are eight 

 or more species in different parts of North America, Asia, 

 Africa, Japan and the Malayan Islands. 



