50 WILD AXIMALS OP GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. 



plants, or cliiising gTasslio2)i)er,s and crickets, Avliich form an im- 

 portant part of their summer food. Farther out among the wheat 

 fi(dds tliev gather from far and near and hiy a hea\v tribute on the 

 har\est of grain, but in the park they dO' little damage and are an 

 ever-present source of interest. 



The young are born early in IMay, and before the end of the month 

 they are out gathering food and playing about the burrows in family 

 l^arties usually of four to six. By the first of September the young 

 are nearly full grown and have accumulated a sufficient stock of fat 

 to carry them through the winter. With the first cold weather all 

 disappear in their underground nests, where tliey sleep soundly until 

 the warm days of early sjiring return. The nest burrows are usually 

 simple and not very extensive, so that badgers dig out great num- 

 bers of the squirrels all through the summer, and even after they 

 have hibernated, until the ground becomes well fi'ozen. 



Striped Grofno Squirkel: CiteJhis tridecemlineatus pallidus 

 (Allen). — The pale, western form of the 13-lined ground squirrel nurv 

 usually be recognized by the parallel lines of dark brown on a ground 

 color of buff over the upperparts. They are slender, almost weasel- 

 like, animals, with short ears and slightly bushy tails. So protec- 

 tively colored are they that in the prairie grass they are rarely seen, 

 but their shrill bubbling trill is often heard along the roadsides. 



These squirrels also are prairie dwellers and come into the Glacier 

 Park only in a few open spots along the eastern border. In 1895 a 

 fevf were found at the lower end of St. Mary Lake, and others along 

 the railroad at the southern edge of the park in open spaces nearly 

 to the summit of the range. They were reported in the Swiftcurrent 

 Valley between Sherburne and McDermott Lakes, and conditions are 

 favorable for them in the Belly River valley well into the park. 



In habits they are shy and secretive, keeping much under the cover 

 of the prairie grasses and low vegetation, and even the doorways of 

 their burrows are often well hidden. 



Their food consists largely of seeds, with some green vegetation, 

 and usually a larger projiortion of insects than with most ground 

 squirrels. Their regular cycle of habits — hibernating through the 

 long winter, breeding early in spring, caring for the young, and 

 storing up a winter's supply of fat — is similar to that of many other 

 sjjecies. In places where they are numerous they do much damage 

 in the grain fields, but here on the western border of their range 

 they are so scarce and inconspicuous that they are not even much 

 of a feature of interest, except to the field naturalist, who is alwaj's 

 looking for the rarer kinds of animal life. 



Glacier Hoary Mahmot: Marmota calujata nivarut Howell. — 

 The gi'eat gray mountain marmots are about twice the size of the 



