Richardson's spermophile. 61 



these observations were made late in August, it is probable that the 

 animals were then nearly ready to hibernate, and consequently spent 

 more time sleeping than earlier in the summer.* 



They are the least suspicious and most inquisitive of all the spermo- 

 philes I have known. They would stand watching me until I approached 

 within a few rods, and if finally frightened into their holes would soon 

 reappear to watch me from their doorways. Probably as they become 

 better acquainted with man and his gopher- destroying inventions, they 

 will learn to be more suspicious and less inquisitive. When runniDg, 

 they flop their short tails up and down like a woodchuck or prairie 

 dog, and when sitting up they keep shaking them as they chipper, just 

 as prairie dogs do. 



Their holes are large, with a little mound of earth like a pocket 

 gopher's hill in front of eaph. They seem to be quite deep and to 

 descend with a steep pitch for the first few feet. 



Of thirteen specimens taken near Bottineau, N. Dak., twelve were 

 males. All were very fat, and were in good condition to hibernate as soon 

 as the ground began to freeze. It was too late in the season to learn any- 

 thin g of their breeding habits, but Mr. Ernest E. Thompson, in his list of 

 the mammals of Manitoba, says : " My notes on the breeding season are 

 very brief and inconclusive, but such as they are, they indicate that 

 the young are born about the middle of May. They number sometimes 

 as high as eleven. About the end of June they are half grown, and 

 begin to show themselves outside of their burrows." He also states 

 that they appear above ground in spring before the snow is gone, 

 which is some time before the appearance of the Striped Spermophile, 

 and that they do not hibernate in autumn till about a fortnight later 

 than that species. 



The spermophiles that do not live near grain fields feed largely upon 

 green vegetation, grass, and various plants. Boots of plants are eaten, 

 and a great many seeds, especially those of pigweeds (Chenopodium 

 album and boscianum) and wild sunflowers, which are abundant and form 

 a considerable part of their diet. They also eat grasshoppers and many 

 other insects. One that I shot as it ran out from under a shock of 

 oats had 269 grains of oats in its cheek pouches. Mr. Ernest E. Thomp- 

 son records 162 grains of oats taken from the cheek pouches of one and 

 240 grains of wheat and nearly 1,000 grains of wild buckwheat from 

 those of another. Still the loss from ripe grain eaten, stored away, and 

 destroyed in autumn is small compared with that which they cause 

 by digging up the seed after it is sown in spring. Each kernel taken 

 then deducts many fold from the autumn yield. 



Dr. Coues has written the most complete account we have of the 

 habits of Bichardson's Spermophile, with which he became familiar 

 when attached to the northern boundary survey along the forty-ninth 

 parallel. He says : 



* That this surmise is correct is proved by the observations of Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 who found them active throughout the entire day, earlier in the season. 



