MISCHIEF MAKERS 363 



grain, cutting and gnawing the season through. The 

 Spermophiles, therefore, are on the farmer's misery list 

 with the Gophers, and the owners of wheat fields, at 

 least, are beginning to think the hungry Coyote a rather 

 clever dog after all. 



" Tlie best known of these ground burrowers of the 

 plains, that reach east of the Rockies from the Sas- 

 katchewan country down to Texas, is the pretty Striped 

 Spermophile. He is an inch or so longer than a Chip- 

 munk, lightlj' built and slender ; his coat is striped with 

 light brown bands, alternating with dark, light spotted 

 bands, the whole coat being as exquisite and even as 

 a woven fabric ; yet he is a perfect nuisance, disliking 

 woodlands, but appearing as soon as the trees are cleared, 

 and never venturing far up mountain sides. 



"His big brother, the gray mottled Rock or Line- 

 tailed Spermophile, begins his range where the striped 

 one halts, burrows among the loose rocks on the sides 

 of the Rocky Mountains themselves, and is the com- 

 monest Mammal of the pinon belts. Here, being out 

 of the wheat centre, he turns his attention to robbing 

 hens' nests, and has a bad reputation." 



" What is a pinon belt ? " asked Rap. 



"Pinons are the western nut-bearing pines, and of 

 course the Ground Squirrels like to live near them." 



"Why couldn't they train terriers to catch these 

 Spermophiles ? " asked Olive. 



" They have a trick that dogs do not like," said the 

 Doctor. " They let a dog or other animal come quite 

 close, and then turn round and kick up the dust so 

 rapidly that the poor beast is both blinded and choked. 

 So much for the Mischief Makers ! " 



