38 



SPERMOPHILES OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



the farmer in this county during the time of corn planting, digging up 

 large amounts of corn just after it is planted. I know of one instance 

 this spring where a farmer had to plant over 10 acres, so completely 

 had the gophers destroyed the field. In spite of the constant warfare 

 on these gophers by farmers they continue to increase. I found one 

 female that would have produced twelve young, and seven to ten is a 

 common average." [Letter dated May 29, 1891.] 



Kansas. — In Kansas Mr. George Briggs, of Keeder, reports that in 

 Kiowa County, Striped Gophers live on the prairie around the edge of 

 the fields and dig up seed corn in the spring. Patches of from 1 to 5 

 rods in extent were destroyed around the outside of all the cornfields 

 in the neighborhood of Keeder in 1888, and the damage was so great 

 that in some cases the farmers had to replant. Prof. L. L. Dyche, of 

 Lawrence, Douglas County, writes: " The Ground Squirrel (Spermo- 

 philus tridecemlineatus) digs up corn, squash, melon, and other seeds 

 soon after they are planted. Farmers say that these Ground Squirrels 

 can smell the seeds, for they always dig straight down to them. Some 

 watermelon farmers report that the squirrels frequently stop the 

 growth of a vine by nibbling or cutting oif the tender runners near the 

 end. Cases were reported where they cut holes in the nearly ripe musk- 

 melons and watermelons and ate the seed out." 



Colorado. — Mr. Horace G. Smith, jr., of Denver, writes under date 

 of September 16, 1888: " I have resided some fifteen years in Denver. 

 The Striped Gopher (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus or an allied species) 

 is common everywhere on the plains and is occasionally seen in timber 

 along the streams. It does more or less damage by digging up seeds, 

 particularly corn and melons. They skip about over the field, dig- 

 ging up a hill here and there. I have known instances where it was 

 necessary to replant melons in order to get a stand, though three or 

 four times the required seed was planted the first time. These sper- 

 mophiles are easily killed by placing poisoned grain at the entrances 

 to their burrows. Their natural food seems to be grasshoppers, grass, 

 and leaves of other plants, seeds, etc. The cactus furnishes a large 

 amount of food for them; the cap of the ovary is cut away, exposing a 

 thimbleful of seeds on which they feed. I have seen them occasionally 

 in the top of Psoralea lanceolata, a bushy plant of the pea family, on 

 the seeds of which they feed. 



U I have found the feathers of the shore lark (Otocoris alpestris areni- 

 cola) about the entrance to their burrows on one or two occasions, but 

 whether killed by the squirrel or not I do not know, though I have 

 known it to turn cannibal when several were kept together in confine- 

 ment. The shore lark evidently regards them as enemies, for I have 

 often seen them try to drive the spermophiles from the locality of their 

 nests, and have found the eggs of this species, as well as those of the 

 lark bunting (Galamospiza melanocorys), destroyed, as I supposed, by 

 this spermophile. ,, 



