33* 



EECREA TION. 



parts are of a reddish white color at their 

 extremities, and falling together, give this 

 animal a speckled appearance. These ani- 

 mals form in large companies, like those on 

 the Missouri, occupying with their burrows 

 sometimes 200 acres of land ; the burrows 

 are separate, and each possesses, perhaps, 10 

 or 12 of these inhabitants. There is a little 

 mound in front of the hole formed of the 

 earth thrown out of the burrow, and fre- 

 quently there are 3 or 4 distinct holes, form- 

 ing one burrow, with these entrances around 

 the base of these little mounds. These 

 mounds, sometimes about 2 feet in height 

 and 4 in diameter, are occupied as watch 

 towers by the inhabitants of these little com- 

 munities. The squirrels, one or more, are 

 irregularly distributed on the tract they thus 

 occupy, at the distance of 10, 20, or some- 

 times 30 to 40 yards. When any one ap- 

 proaches they make a shrill whistling sound, 



A PAIR OF YOUNGSTERS. 



somewhat resembling tweet, tweet, tweet, 

 the signal for their party to take the alarm, 

 and to retire into their intrenchments. 

 They feed on the roots of grass, etc' ' 



My only intimate acquaintance with the 

 Columbia ground squirrel has been in the 

 Bitter Root mountains, where he lives in 

 moderate numbers at the foot of large snow- 

 slides, and on high, open meadows. On 

 the meadows his outdoor life is of short 

 duration. He does not make his appearance 

 until the snow goes, usually about the 1st of 

 July. By the 1st of September he is again 

 driven in by the snows, for a long 9 or 10 

 months' sleep. In the lower altitudes he 

 enjoys a longer time out of doors, but I do 

 not think that in the mountains he ever has 

 more than one third of the year in which he 

 can venture out of his many tunneled abode. 



When the squirrel first makes his appear- 

 ance in the spring, he is rather dull in color, 

 and slow in action, spending much of the 



day in sunning himself, and feeding rather 

 sparingly. As the days grow warmer he 

 becomes energetic, and spends but little of 

 his time indoors. He is then a most 

 rapacious feeder, and a pugnacious fighter ; 

 in fact, they are continually fighting with one 

 another, over some morsel of food. They 

 are also cannibalistic, and will devour the 

 body of a dead comrade before it has time to 

 cool. In eating a carcass they begin at its 

 head. 



They grew tame about our camps, and 

 made themselves a nuisance by stealing 

 things. Several were killed, and the bodies, 

 thrown some distance from camp, were at- 

 tacked and partially eaten within 5 minutes 

 after they were shot. Although I have been 

 informed to the contrary by several natural- 

 ists, I am convinced that these squirrels will 

 kill and eat the young of any bird they can 

 catch. As an instance of this we found a nest 

 of the white crown sparrow near a squirrel 

 town. So far as we knew no other animals, 

 such as the marten, weasel, etc., were in that 

 immediate neighborhood. We visited the 

 nest several times, and when we thought 

 the young birds about the right age to 

 photograph' we took our cameras there. 

 We found the nest pulled to pieces, one 

 dead and one live bird near it, and the 

 feathers of the two others scattered around 

 a squirrel hole. 



At another time I found a sandpiper with 

 4 young not far from camp. Wishing to 

 photograph the young, but fearing that if I 

 carried them to camp I might not again get 

 them to their mother, I tied 3 of them by 

 threads, in the shade of a big log, and hur- 

 ried to get my camera. On returning, we 

 found the mother greatly excited, and saw a 

 large ground squirrel making for the young 

 sandpipers. In spite of the stones we threw 

 at him, he returned twice while we were 

 photographing the birds. 



The young squirrels make their appear- 

 ance from their abodes about the middle of 

 July. They are easily tamed, and soon lose 

 all fear. What their favorite food is I 

 could not determine, but they would leave 

 all their grasses and roots for a piece of 

 dried meat, or a scrap of bacon from our 

 pile of refuse. In August they change per- 

 ceptibly in color, becoming quite gray, and 

 their coats get heavier. They grow fat be- 

 fore " holing up." Their holes appear to 

 run just below the grass roots, and to ex- 

 tend in every direction. I followed one, by 

 digging, for 127 feet without reaching the 

 end. At frequent intervals it was joined by 

 other tunnels. The animals appear quite 

 fond of water, and drank often at the lake 

 and the streams. 



It is not difficult to photograph them, and 

 a number of plates were made with the 

 telephoto, and the Bausch & Lomb-Zeiss 

 lens, in various characteristic attitudes. 



