
532 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 
near together, with galleries communicating at a slight depth. 
I saw no signs of its burrows in the harder soil which pre- 
vails on most of the plains. 
_ Burrowme SQUIRREL (Spermophilus grammurus?). The 
“Burrowing Squirrel” of Lewis and Clarke, which has so 
much puzzled both field and closet naturalists ever since 
their time, was undoubtedly, I think, founded on at least 
two distinct animals. Their description of the fresh speci- 
men agrees precisely with that given by Dr. Suckley, of 
Arctomys flaviventer (from a recent specimen also), except- 
ing the length of tail, which in the former may have been 
mutilated, or the length misprinted; otherwise, the words 
may be paraphrased almost word for word. But their de- 
scription of the habits of the squirrel indicates quite another 
animal, whose burrows now exist as abundantly as in their 
time, throughout the prairies and more open pine woods, 
from near the summit of Mullan’s Pass to Fort Colville, 
avoiding only the dense forests, and doubtless passing round 
the Cour d’Aleie Ridge, by way of Clarke’s Fork and its 
tributary valleys. Sas! 
As so well described by them, the burrows occur in vil- 
lages like the Prairie-dogs, but with several smaller en- 
trances around a central mound of excavated earth, the holes 
large enough to admit any of the largest Spermophiles. 
Though abundant, the squirrels are so very shy that I san 
only four or five, and if I killed any they got too far down m 
their burrows to be got out, as all I shot at were sitting at 
the mouth, and like all these burrowers, their last kick 1s a2 
effort to get downward. In this shyness they differ wholly 
from the Prairie-dog, and indeed have far more the habits 
of a Spermophile. As well as I could see, they had the 812° 
proportions, and color of the species mentioned (grammures)s 
which, according to a specimen label, was found by Town 
send on the Columbia river (Baird’s Gen. Rep. Mammals, 
p- 310). Those I saw were silent and watchful, seeming 
rarely to go far from home, and thus differing much from 0° 
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