The Rodents, or Gnawing Animals 



151 



that of bun-owing. In disposition most of them are still very squirrel-like, though they gain 

 something in solemnity of demeanour by never going far frojn their holes. A prairie-dog 

 or marmot is like a squirrel which has left society and settled down in a suljurb. The little 

 creatures known in America as Pkairie-dogs have in Northern Europe and the steppes of Asia 

 some first cousins, called Susliks. ?)oth live in colonies, liurrow (piickly and well, feed 

 on grass, and have a habit of sitting bolt upright outside their holes, keeping a look-out for 

 enemies. The prairie-dogs also bark like a little dog when alarmed. Before going to sleep, 

 the latter always carry the dry grass on whicli they slept out of their Imri-ow, and carefully 

 bite up into short lengths a fresh supply to make their beds. The susliks and prairie-dogs 

 are of a khaki colour, like the sand in wliich they delight to burrow. Every one has heard 

 that the little burrowing-owls live in the same holes in company with the prairie-dogs, and 



Bi/ jKnintisioii of fh'i ^\ac York- Zuolo'ju-al Society. 



I'ltAlKIE-DOGS, OE JIARJIOTS. 

 A most cliaracteri.stic pictnrs. It shows the prairie-do!j^ method of holding their food -n-hile they eat, or cutting up ^.a^s to make theii" heds. 



that the rattlesnake sometimes eats both the young prairie-dogs and the young owls. An 

 acquaintance of the writer who had killed a rattlesnake actually toolc a young prairie-dog from 

 its mouth. The snake had not struck it with the poison, but had begun to swallow it 

 uninjured. It was still alive, and recovered. 



The suslik was once found in England; its remains, wdth those of other steppe animals, 

 are found in the river gravels and brick earth in the London basin. The prairie-dogs form a 

 kind of connecting-link between the susliks and the true marmots. They have short ears, 

 short tails, rounded bodies, and possess great powers of digging. When a prairie-dog has 

 nothing better to do, it usually spends its time either in digging holes or in cutting up 

 grass or anything handy to make its bed with. Young prairie-dogs are not so large as a 

 mouse when born. The adult animals feed almost' entirely on grass and weeds in their wild 

 state ; they seem quite independent of water, and able to live in the driest places. 



The Alpine Marmot is a much larger species than the prairie-dog. It li\es on the 



