6 MAMMALS OF UTAH 



Utah's present incomparably favorable laws are kept in 

 force, this state will one time have such a plentiful supply of 

 game that every boy will have occasion to thank the wisdom 

 of his forefathers. It is a matter of great satisfaction to 

 the author, that the 1919 session of the Utah Legislature 

 had to consider a claim for crop-damage done by elk, the 

 first bill of its kind and a direct result of recent protective 

 legislation. 



Of the Glires or rodents, our two chickarees, being trpe 

 squirrels, live on nuts and seeds, only occasionally doing mis- 

 chief. Our nine chipmunks eat berries, insects and seeds; 

 and though in some instances they do some damage to grain 

 fields, they probably on the whole do more good than harm. 

 The dozen species of ground squirrels or spermophiles 

 (Citellus) found within the state, destroy many grasshop- 

 pers, beetles, flies, larvae, and the buds of harmful plants; 

 but wherever numerous they so ravage the grain fields 

 that they undoubtedly should be exterminated. Though 

 the prairie dogs usually occupy ground so barren as to be 

 useless to the farmer, their fondness for green grasses, 

 cabbages, cantelopes and such produce sometimes results in 

 encroachment upon and damage to near-by cultivated 

 tracts. Woodchucks, living chiefly on such grass and 

 clovers as grow in their high mountain retreats, are more 

 interesting than mischievous. 



Beavers subsist principally on the bark of such trees as 

 the aspen, with the addition in summer of many kinds of 

 vegetation, berries, pond-lily roots and marsh grass, and 

 where numerous they occasionally damage the agriculturist 

 and horticulturist. Ample provision is, however, made in 

 the Utah law for the depletion of their numbers in certain 

 instances, under the supervision of the Game Commis- 

 sioner; hence, when the great value of their pelts is con- 

 sidered they well merit the general protection they receive. 

 Eventually they will become a valuable asset to the state, 

 as they have increased surprisingly the past few years. 



So numerous have rats become about the homes of Salt 

 Lake City that the situation is alarming to those who know 

 of the plagues that these disease-carrying pests have caused 

 elsewhere. Immediate steps must be taken towards their 

 extermination. Every householder should at once write to 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, for 

 a copy of Farmers' Bulletin 369, "How to Destroy Rats." 

 Furthermore those people who understand the use of ferrets 

 should as soon as possible introduce these animals, which 

 are very efficient rat-killers. 



