Richardson's spermophile. 



63 



kind I should have taken them for the Turks of the harem. It seems 

 to be a ease somewhat parallel with that of the lonely old buffalo bulls 

 so often met with away from the herd. The female brings forth in 

 June. This I infer, at least, from the circumstance that July brings 

 us plenty of young- ones two- thirds grown. The young probably keep 

 closely in the burrow until they are of about this size — I do not remem- 

 ber to have seen any smaller ones running about. * * * The gather- 

 ing and hoarding of seeds seems to be their principal occupation dur- 

 ing the summer. 



ik Amidst thousands that we pass only to see them skurry into their 

 holes in trepidation, there are necessarily some observed which do not 

 notice us or at any rate do not take alarm. I have often watched 

 them, where the grass was taller than usual, gathering their store. 

 They rise straight up on their haunches, seize the grass top and bite 

 it off. Then, settling down with a peculiar jerk, they sit with arched 

 back, and stow away their provender in their pouches with the aid of 

 their fore paws. Their cheek pouches are not very large — both together 

 would hardly hold a heaping teaspoonful. When duly freighted they 

 make for their holes. Their mode of feeding, as they do, upon grass 

 blades or any other herbage, as well as upon seeds, is essentially the 

 same. In their foraging excursions, they seem to have regular lines of 

 travel. From almost every long-used hole may be seen one or more 

 little paths an inch or two wide, sometimes so well worn that they 

 may be traced 15 or 20 feet. These paths often run from one "hole to 

 another. No matter how smooth the ground, these paths are never 

 quite straight ; they repeat in miniature the devious footpath across 

 the meadow, the mysterious something that prevents an animal from 

 walking perfectly straight being in force here. Though properly a 

 vegetarian, like other rodents, the gopher is fond of meat, and I think 

 that no small share of his summer's food is derived from the carcasses 

 of buffalo. Wolves do not appear to be numerous, in summer at least, 

 in this region, and the polishing of buffalo skeletons is largely accom- 

 plished by the kit foxes, badgers, skunks, and gophers. Hard by a 

 slain buffalo a badger's hole is pretty sure to be soon established, 

 together with a number of temporary gopher burrows. In proof posi- 

 tive of this carnivorous propensity, I have more than once seen the 

 inside of a drying carcass completely covered with the peculiar and 

 readily recognized excrement of the gophers, while the bones and flesh 

 were gnawed in a way that plainly told who had been there. * * * 

 Comical as a gopher is in some of his attitudes and motions, henever looks 

 so funny as when squeaking. He generally gets down on all fours to it, 

 drops his jaw with a jerk, and squeezes out the noise by drawing in his 

 belly— it reminds one of a toy dog. If caught or wounded, they have 

 an energetic chattering outcry, much like that of other species." * * * 

 (American Naturalist, ix, 1875, pp. 148-154.) 



In the interval of eighteen years since Dr. Coues published this 



