24 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
alone. But there were five conies at work in one 
field. One of these haymakers was lame in the 
left hind foot. Each haycutter carried his load off 
to his stack. One stack was thirty steps from 
the field; the one of the lame fellow, fortunately, 
was only eight steps. 
The cony is a relative of the rabbit, the 
squirrel, the beaver, and the prairie dog. Al- 
though he has a home underground, he spends 
most of his waking hours outdoors. Above 
ground on a rock he sits—in the sunshine, in 
cloud, and even in the rain. 
Except during harvest, or when seeking a new 
home, he works but little. Much of the time 
he simply sits. On a rock that rises two feet 
or more above the surrounding level he sits 
by the hours, apparently dreaming. 
By the entrance of Rocky’s den lay a large, 
flat slab of granite, several feet long. This was 
raised upon boulders. He stacked his hay be- 
neath the edge of this outreaching slab and 
upon the slab he spent hours each day, except 
in busy haymaking time. 
With back against his rock, without a move 
for an hour or longer, he would sit in one 
spot near his den. Now and then he sent forth 
a call as though asking a question, and then 
gravely listened to the responses of far-off 
conies. Occasionally he appeared to repeat a 
