E-y,3,IJ. 8/J2/32 



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Mj-p 3ailoy says that the mtstlons of the pocket gophers he has observed 

 are so quick that only a snapshot can catch them distinctly. 



As we said tiefore, there are different species of pocket gopherst 

 The Colorado pocjket gopher, for instance, has the highest range in the mountainsi 



Mr, Bailey has found the upper slopes of mountains literally plowed 

 over "by Colorado pocket gophers. The pocket-gopher burrows seem to honeycomb 

 the ground in some places. The moxmds of earth thrown out of the tunnels 

 dot the surface so thickly that they often cover from a tenth to a fifth of 

 the surface. As fresh hills are ihro^?rn up, the old ones gradually sinlc and 

 disappear beneath a rich carpet of vefi:atation. 



In that way, the pocket gophers constantly plow the ground and bury 

 the vegetation beneath the surface, Mr. Bailey says that the tuni-over' r 

 increases the fertility of the mountain slopes in many places. Not only that, 

 but the network of burrows tmderneath the surface helps hold and carry the 

 water into the soil and store it for use. Of course, the Colorado pocket 

 gophers uproot, and cover, and oat a great deal of the mountain vegetation, 

 but it all returns to the soil with a distinct gain in fertility. The work of 

 these high mountain pocket gophers, our naturalist estimates, is mainly 

 beneficial. 



But all pocket gophers don't live on the uper slopes* Some live on 

 the plateaus, others along the valley bottoms, and still other kinds live 

 in the desert. 



Now a desert is about the last place you might think of any animal 

 flourishing. Yet Mr. Bailey says the desert podcet gophers seem to live 

 very comfortably there — as zmich. so as those in apparently more favored places. 



Pocket gophers go where they cnn find food. You might think the 

 cactuses and other desert plants protected by hooks and spines would offer 

 little encouragement to even a hungry gopher. But you must remember, pocket 

 gophers arc miners and sappers. They attack those armed desert plonts from 

 underground. They burrow into a cactus from beneath, and eat out the tender 

 inside. Then they t\innel their way along to the roots of the next plant. 



And, by the way, the pocket gopher doesn't get its name from its sixe, 

 whether that be vest-pocket or coat pocket size. The pocket in the podcet 

 gopher' s name refers to the pouches in the cheeks, which make very useful 

 receptacles in which those little miners carry the food they take back to the 

 nest. 



Pocket gophers that live in or under the desert or high up the slopes 

 of mountains where thoiisare no ranchec or settlements may be just interesting 

 little representatives of life in the wilds. But the pocket gophers that live 

 in the moist fertile valleys ii^ore there are farms, with fields, and orchards, 

 and gardens, do serious damage to farm crops and irrigation ditches. 



From what Mr. Bailey says, it would seem that farmers have spread 

 feasts of domestic plants that these destructive rodents prefer to the wild 

 plants of their range. For instance, the big golden pocket gophers and the 

 chestnut pocket gophers are especially partial to alfalfa. 



