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THE QUADRUPEDS OF ARIZONA. 359 
Spermophiles is the elegant little 9. Harrisii of Audubon 
and Bachman. It is only about ag large as a Chipmunk ; 
has stripes which make it look very mask like one, and 
many habits in common with it. The Arizonian species 
particularly resembles the Tamias dorsalis in general- ap- 
pearance, as viewed in life, and frequents precisely the 
same sort of localities. Though still very rare in collec- 
tions, it is common enough in Western Arizona, and in 
fact in the greater part of the desert region about Fort 
Mojave, on both sides of the Colorado River. I saw a 
great many at different times in the autumn near Beals 
Springs, where I found them in the most rocky and pre- 
cipitous places. It was difficult to procure specimens, 
not only from the nature of the region, but on account of 
their extreme agility, and their unwillingness to venture 
at any time far from their secure rocky retreats. 
The common and notorious California Ground Squirrel 
(S. Beecheyi) ranges eastward across the Colorado val- 
ley, though in Arizona it is by no means sò abundant as 
in California, where it forms colonies approaching those 
of the prairie dog in extent, and is a great pest to the 
farmer. In the vicinity of Los Angeles, I had an excel- 
lent opportunity of studying its habits. On the flat or 
slightly rolling dry plains which stretch between that 
town and the sea-beach, it is exceedingly numerous. The 
burrows occur usually in clusters, and upon little mounds 
or hillocks of dirt formed by the soil heaped up during 
their excavation; but single ones are scattered in every 
direction. Upon these “earth-works” the animals may 
be seen at all times, sitting upright, and motionless as 
statues, their fore-paws drooped, and their eyes intently 
fixed upon the passer-by; or, when no suspicious object 
appears, lying and basking in the sun, or playing merrily 
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