DIGGING OUT A GOPHER 249 



accumulation of perspiration and prairie loam from my brow, 

 Rover suddenly rushed off into the darkness. In the corn 

 rows 30 yards away, he seized something, shook it vigor- 

 ously, and a moment later came trotting back to me, carry- 

 ing in his mouth a large Gopher! The beast had been mi- 

 grating into the corn-field, and Rover simply caught him on 

 the fly. 



Digging operations ceased abruptly at that point. Thank- 

 ing Rover for his timely assistance, I accepted his contribu- 

 tion, and we marched home together. When I exhibited to 

 my brother the Gopher that we had secured "by digging," 

 he was profoundly surprised, but promptly paid the money. 

 Rover looked on smilingly, and said not a word; but we 

 both knew then that in catching Gophers steel traps are 

 better than spades. 



TREE-RATS AND WATER-RATS 



Family Octodontidae 



Our steadily growing acquaintance with Cuba and South 

 America renders it desirable to include here several Families 

 of mammals that were unavoidably omitted from the original 

 edition of this Natural History. 



The Tree-Rats, or Hutias (Capromys), naturally chal- 

 lenge the curiosity of the American traveller who visits Cuba, 

 the Bahamas, Jamaica, or Honduras. The astonishment 

 with which I first beheld in a Cuban tree-top a perfect Jumbo 

 of a rat, nimbly climbing through the branches, has no doubt 

 been duplicated many times in other Americans. The com- 

 mon name is pronounced Hoo-te'ah, and there are nine spe- 



