118 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
seated yourself with your back against a tree, and have re- 
mained for a time as immovable as the trunk against which 
you lean, you will soon see sundry little heads protruding from 
the burrows, with as many pairs of eyes and ears skilled to 
detect the least sign of danger from their equally-feared ene. 
mies, the coyote, the Californian vulture, the red-shouldered 
and red-tailed hawk, and man himself. If, however, your si- 
lence and quietness persuade them that you are none of these, 
they will swarm forth from their holes, and at first timidly, 
but, gaining confidence, more fearlessly, engage in all the 
sports and antics for which the sciuride are noted, and in 
which none excel the species under consideration. It is a 
pretty sight, and one to which I have often treated myself, to 
sit down quietly under these old oaks, and watch the squirrels 
running about over the grass and trees, gambolling and play- 
ing together. As far as the eye could reach through the vista, 
the sprightly movements of these innocent animals could be 
discerned.” P 
The two species are called Beechey’s spermophile (Spermo.- 
philus beecheyt) and Douglas’s spermophile (Spermophilus 
douglasii). The size, habits, and general appearance of the 
two species are the same, but they differ in the color of a stripe 
along the spine from the base of the head to the middle of the 
back: in Beechey’s spermophile it is yellowish-hoary, in Doug- 
las’s it is dark-brown. The former species is found very abun- 
dantly south of the straits of Carquinez; the latter north of it, 
and fewer in number. 
Beechey’s spermophiles are among the most formidable ene- 
mies of the farmer in those districts where they make their 
homes. They increase very rapidly in the vicinity of farms, 
and do great damage in grain-fields and gardens; they eat 
grain and garden vegetables in all stages of their growth; 
they peel young fruit-trees and vines; they are, in short, dan- 
gerous to nearly every thing that is cultivated. They are very 
industrious, and lay up large stores for the winter, spending 
several hours every pleasant summer’s day in gathering food. 
