18 



SPERMOPHILES OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



skunk consists of smaller game, insects, and fruit. The long-tailed 

 weasel (Putorius longicauda) is one of their most deadly enemies. It 

 readily enters the burrows and kills the occupants without the 

 slightest inconvenience. On the prairies of the Dakotas, Nebraska, 

 and Wyoming they may frequently be seen running quickly from one 

 hole to another, and as is usual with weasels, they probably kill far 

 more than they can eat, merely for the pleasure of killing. These 

 weasels always seem to be rather scarce, else no spermophiles would 

 remain alive. 



There is no doubt that the larger snakes destroy great numbers, 

 especially of the young, though definite information on the subject is 

 scarce. I have frequently found large bull snakes (Pituophis) crawl- 

 ing in or out of their holes, and have found pocket gophers and other 

 animals of the size of small spermophiles in the snakes. 



Thus it may be seen that without the aid of man there are abundant 

 provisions for regulating the abundance of these animals and prevent- 

 ing their too rapid increase. The great danger is that in some of his 

 blind efforts to rearrange matters in a more satisfactory manner man 

 will destroy his friends instead of his enemies. 



BOUNTIES. 



The damage done by spermophiles is so great that the expedient of 

 offering bounties for their destruction has been tried in several States 

 where these pests are most abundant. Iowa, North and South Dakota, 

 Minnesota, Montana, and more recently Washington, have all expended 

 large amounts in this way. 



In 1888 and 1889 an attempt was made to ascertain the amounts act- 

 ually paid for the destruction of spermophiles and pocket gophers in the 

 Dakotas, Iowa, and Minnesota, but owing to the difficulty in obtaining 

 accurate returns, the investigation was abandoned. With the exception 

 of Minnesota there were no State laws, the bounties being paid by the 

 counties, and this necessitated obtaining returns from the auditor of each 

 county. A more serious difficulty was the fact that these returns in- 

 cluded bounties on several species of mammals, and sometimes birds, and 

 gave merely the total amount expended, making it almost impossible in 

 most cases to ascertain the proportion paid for the destruction of each 

 species. In the following tables given under each State returns are in- 

 cluded only from counties which it is reasonably certain paid some part 

 of the bounty on spermophiles. In some cases the county records 

 were found to be very incomplete, and in others no replies were received 

 to the letters of inquiry sent out, so that only a part of the counties 

 which have actually paid bounties are included. For these reasons the 

 tables are necessarily very incomplete and are only included for the 

 purpose of ^ivinp, a general idea of the large amounts expended for the 

 destruction of ground squirrels. 



Dakota. — Bounties in the Territory of Dakota were paid by the coun- 

 ties, there being no Territorial bounty. The following resolutions x>assed 



