116 Xotes on some Small Rodents found in Xorth America. 



from whom, in all probability. Lews aud Clark obtained the 

 name, and first hoard of the animal. But the Chinook name tor 



the Aplodontv is ^g-ool-lal, Sku-wal-lal being the name of the 

 robe made from the shins : and this is unquestionably the w . 

 corrnpted into Seicelkl, and misused as the name of the animal. 

 In Pugetfs Sound the Xesqually Indians call it Shovr'tl : 

 ma India:-.?. Sqml-lah ; the S:::v.as?. Su-ok-la. 

 A siv.c.e g'.anee at the conformation of the feet would at 

 once convince the most careless observer that climbing trees 



not a habit of the Aplodontia. The feet and claws 

 digging implements of the most finished and efficient kind; 

 the long scoop-shaped nails, like garden trowels, wide 

 Strang foot, utmost ..and-like in its form, the strong, muscular 

 arms, supported by powerful clavicles, proclaim him a miner; 

 his mission is to burrow, and most ably he fulfils his destiny. 

 His haunt is usually by the side of ■ stream, where the bark? 

 are sandy and the underbrush grows thickly, his favourite food 

 being fine fibrous roots, and the rind of such as are too large 

 and hard for his teeth. He spends his time in burrowing, not 

 ? ; uiuch for shelter and concealment, as to supply himself with 

 roots. He digs with great ease and rapidity, making a hole 

 large enough for a man's arm to be inserted. 



In making the runnels he seldom burrows very far without 

 coming to the surface and beginning a new one. Like a skilful 

 workman, he knows how to economise labour ; having to back 

 earth out of the mouth of the hole he is digging, the 

 further he gets in the harder gi lows like t ;:'.. and so he 

 digs up through, ana starts afresh. They seldom come out 

 in the daytime, and I have but rarely heard them whistle 

 until everything was still, and the rviHsrht mersred into dark 

 night. 



The female has from four to six young at a birth, and they 

 have about two litters in a year. The nest for the young is 

 much like that of the rabbit, made of grass and leaves, and 

 placed at the end of a deep burrow. 



In the winter they only partially hybernate, frequently dig- 

 ging through the snc^~ : ; ; ;.: :he bark and lichen from the tare : s . 

 Their gait when on the ground is very awkward, their broad, 

 short feet are not fined for pro gw s si ; n, and they shamble rather 

 than run, and can be easily overtaken. 'SVhere a colony of them 

 has resided for any time, the ground becomes literally riddled 

 with holes, and the trees and shrubs die for want of roots. I ima- 

 gine, from having found abandoned villages, that they wis 

 migrate when their resources are exhausted. The Indians 

 ?m their flesh a great luxury, and trap them in a kind of 

 figure-of-fcur trap, set at the mouth of the burrows. I dare 

 they are as good as a rabbit ; still, they have too rat-like 



