HABITS OF THE KANGAROO RAT 



241 



taken the trouble to give it an English name! Hereafter, 

 let us call it by the name given above, because it is the type 

 of its genus. It inhabits Montana, Wyoming, and the Da- 

 kotas. Its color above is sandy-yellowish, lined with black; 

 underneath, white; and these two color areas are divided 

 low down along the side by a length- 

 wise band of pale yellow. Length, 

 3-f 2^ inches. 



The Kangaroo Rat^ subfamily, 

 of fifteen full species, is fitly repre- 

 sented by an elf -like creature which 

 is one of the most beautiful and at- 

 tractive of all our native rats. In the 

 dry and sterile regions of the great 

 Southwest, from Oklahoma to the 

 Gulf of California, where seemingly 

 the deserts produce nothing but sand, cacti, yuccas, and creo- 

 sote bushes, these pert little creatures hold forth. Apparently 

 they are both fire-proof and water-proof, for no amount of 

 heat affects them, and the absence of water does not seem 

 to depress their spirits in the least. Like most mice and rats, 

 they are nocturnal. Some of the species build for them- 

 selves large mounds of earth and gravel, from 1 to 3 feet high 

 and 5 to 10 feet in diameter, which are honeycombed with 

 burrows and runways. These dwellings are often inhabited 

 by rattlesnakes and lizards, and doubtless the Kangaroo 

 Rat is an important item of food in the diet of the desert 

 rattler. 



KANGAROO RAT. 



Showing the very large cheek- 

 pouches. 



^ Typical species, Perodipus richardsoni, of western Kansas and Oklahoma. 



