28 HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 
Their depth is indicated in inches by the figures in the cut, the 
measurements being taken from the top of the passage to the 
surface of the ground. shows the position of a side excava- 
tion, spherical in shape, and twelve inches in diameter, which, 
when opened, was found filled with dried grass, corn fodder, ete. 
F was also spherical, nine inches in diameter, and empty. 
was a blind passage, or cul de sac, three feet in length, packed 
solid with grass and little masses of dirt, the object doubtless 
being to keep moist the winter’s supply of food; the packing 
being accomplished by the bunting process already described. 
The burrow passed under E as indicated by the dotted lines, and 
Fig. 8. as shown by the section in the margin, 
where œ represents the surface of the 
ground, b one side of the granary FE, and 
c the passage way beneath. The distance 
from a to b was eight inches, the width of 
b at this point six inches, and the distance 
from b toc four inches. The total length 
of under-ground excavation was about 
twenty-five feet. The question is often 
asked, does the Prairie Dog require any 
water? The gentleman who brought mine on, said he had had 
them two months, during which time he had given them nothing 
to drink. I received them October 26th, 1869, and from that 
time to the 1st of May, 1870, I am sure they drank nothing. 
March 11th and April 3d, I placed a dish of water before them. 
Each time they merely smelt of it, and turned away without 
drinking a drop. From the 1st of May to the last of Novem- 
ber, they occupied their summer quarters, and though always 
rejecting the water placed before them, they may have received 
an abundant supply from the falling rain, the dew, and the 
moist earth. During the month of December, 1870, one of them 
drank four times, viz., on the 7th, half an ounce; the 9th, two 
ounces; the 14th, one and a half ounces; the 20th, one and a half 
ounces, and on the 22d, commenced its winter nap. 
It is often recorded in the books, that the Prairie Dog, owl and 
rattlesnake live lovingly together in the same hole. I have seen 
many ‘‘dogtowns” with owls and dogs standing on contiguous, 
and in some cases, on the same mound, but never saw a snake in 
the vicinity. I have conversed with many frontiersmen and have 
Section of Burrow. 
