PRAIRIE-DOGS 159 
65,000 square miles of their scattered range in the 
State contains, as seems probable, an equal number, 
the State of Texas supports 800,000,000 prairie-dogs. 
According to the formula for determining the relative 
amount of food consumed by animals of different 
sizes, this number of prairie-dogs would require as 
much grass as 3,125,000 cattle. 
‘‘In many places the prairie-dogs are increasing 
and spreading over new territory, but on most of the 
ranches they are kept down by the use of poison, or 
bisulphid of carbon, or, better, by a combination of 
the two. As a Texas cattle ranch usually covers from 
10,000 to 100,000 acres, the expense of destroying the 
prairie-dogs in the most economical manner often 
means an outlay of several thousand dollars to begin 
with and a considerable sum each year to keep them 
down. The increase of prairie-dogs is clearly due to 
the destruction of their natural enemies. : 
‘‘In autumn the prairie-dogs become fat, but in 
Texas they do not hibernate as they do to some extent 
in the North. If their fur should become fashionable, 
or roast prairie-dog an epicurean dish, the problem 
of keeping them in check would be settled, and there 
is no reason, save their name, for not counting them, 
properly prepared and cooked, a delicacy. While 
owing their name to a chirping or ‘barking’ note of 
warning, they are in reality a big, plump, burrow- 
ing squirrel of irreproachable habits as regards food 
and cleanliness. An old stage driver expressed the 
idea in graphic words one day: © “iF them things was 
called by their right name, there would not be one 
