The Prairie Dog Mammals 
hard, thus burying the snake alive. At least this is 
the story naturalists tell. 
The burrow of the prairie dog is very carefully 
made; around the entrance is a mound of earth 
packed hard, which in times of flood prevents the 
waters from flowing into the burrow and drowning 
out the inmates. This mound also serves as a watch- 
tower, on which its little builder may sit and look 
abroad over the land and up into the sky, when 
watching for snakes, coyotes, foxes, wild.cats, hawks 
and owls, which are the natural enemies of his kind. 
The burrow extends down a very steep slope from the 
entrance for twelve or fifteen feet, and then extends 
out horizontally leading to various chambers, some 
of which are used for living rooms, other for store- 
houses, in which harvests of grass or other vegetation 
may be kept; while there are still other chambers 
used for refuse. 
Mexico and Southwestern United States to the 
Utah basin, and the great dry plains east of the Rocky 
Mountains, are the regions inhabited by prairie dogs. 
They are sociable little fellows, and like to live in 
villages. Since they soon exhaust the scanty food 
supply around their burrows, the old villages are 
abandoned and new ones established in more favor- 
able situations; thus their villages cover acres. 
Since the development of the arid regions into farm- 
ing lands, the prairie dogs have taken a new lease of 
life, and have flourished greatly. They especially 
enjoy all kinds of farm crops, and consequently do a 
great deal of damage. Dr. Merriam says that there 
are colonies extending for a distance of twenty to 
thirty miles. One colony in Texas covers an area of 
twenty-five hundred square miles. The government 
is making experiments as to the best methods of 
destroying these industrious little burrowers when 
they encroach upon cultivated lands. 
97 
