MAMMALIA. - 165 
never quit their holes in the winter; and I believe they pass the greater part of - 
that season in a torpid state, The ground not being thawed when I was at 
Carlton-house, I had not an opportunity of ascertaining how their sleeping apart- 
ments were constructed, nor whether they lay up stores of food or not, About 
the end of the first week of April, or as soon as a considerable portion of the 
ground is bare of snow, they come forth; and, when caught on their little 
excursions, their cheek-pouches generally contain the tender buds of the anemone 
nuttalliana, which is very abundant, and the earliest plant on the plains. They are 
fat when they first appear, and their fur is in good condition; but the males 
immediately go in quest of the females, and in the course of a fortnight they become 
lean, and the hair begins to fall off. They run pretty quick, but clumsily, and 
their tails at the same time move up and down with a jerking motion. They dive 
into their burrows on the approach of danger, but soon venture out again if they 
hear no noise, and may be easily shot with the bow and arrow, or even knocked 
down with a stick, by any one who will take the trouble to lie quietly on the grass 
near their burrow for a few minutes. ‘Their curiosity is so great, that they are sure 
to come out to look around. As far as I could ascertain, they feed entirely on vege- 
table matters, eating in the spring the young buds and tender sprouts of herbaceous 
plants, and in the autumn the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants. Their cry, 
when in danger, or when angry, so nearly resembles that of the Arctomys Parryt, 
that lam unable to express the difference in letters. Several species of falcon, 
that frequent the plains of the Saskatchewan, prey much on these marmots; but 
their principal enemy is the American badger, which, by enlarging their burrows, 
pursues them to their inmost retreats. Considerable parties of Indians have also 
been known to subsist for atime on them, when the larger game is scarce, and 
their flesh is palatable when they are fat. I have no precise information respecting 
the range of this animal, It inhabits sandy prairies, is not found in thickly 
wooded parts, and nowhere, I believe, further north than latitude 55°. It is 
mentioned in the Appendix to Captain Franklin’s Journey, that it was found on 
the shores of the Arctic Sea; but incorrectly, as I have since ascertained that I 
had mistaken the preceding species for this one. It is one of the animals known to 
the residents of the fur-countries by the name of ground squirrel ; and to Canadian 
voyagers, by that of s¢fflewr ;—it has considerable resemblance to the squirrels, 
but is less active, and has less sprightliness and elegance in its attitudes. It is 
most readily distinguished from the squirrels by the smallness of its ears; the shape 
of its incisors, which are larger, but not so strong, and much less compressed ; the 
second, and not the third fore-toe, being the largest; and its comparatively long 
