40 



COMMON MAMMALS OK WKKTKRN MONTANA. 



tlu> aid of a prod made from a hoe or broom handle, dull-pointed at 

 one end and with a 15-inch piece of quarter-inch steel rod inserted in 

 the other. The steel probe is used to locate the plugged-up lateral 

 leading from a fresh mound. or the main tunnel between mounds; and 

 the blunt-pointed end to enlarge the hole thus made. The opening, 

 unless very large, need not be closed. After a runway has been 

 poisoned the mounds along it should be leveled, so that new ones can 

 be readily detected; and if no fresh workings are seen it is safe to 

 conclude that the gopher occupying the run has been killed. "With 

 this method from 00 to 100 per cent of the gophers may be killed by 

 a single treatment of the runs. 



TRAPPING GOPHERS. 



The old-fashioned steel traps are often used to secure pocket 

 gophers, but they are unsatisfactory. If steel traps are to be used, 

 "jump" traps are much the best for gophers. These traps should be 

 set uncovered in the main tunnel, and the openings through which 

 the}' have been inserted should be so tightly closed that no light can 

 penetrate the run. 



Several excellent traps designed especially for pocket gophers have 

 been put on the market. These are set in laterals from which the 

 trapper has removed the earth plug, and are designed to catch and 

 instantly kill the gophers as they attempt to refill the holes. When 

 these traps are used, the openings into the tunnel should not be 

 closed. An old case knife makes an excellent instrument with which 

 to locate and open up the dirt-filled laterals leading from the mounds 

 to the main tunnel. 



RABBITS. 



DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS. 



Three kinds of rabbits occur in western Montana — the jack, the 

 snowshoe, and the cottontail. 



Probably the most important of these three species is the jack- 

 rabbit, an animal characteristic of open sagebrush plains and benches. 

 Its young are bom fully furred and with their eyes open. 



The snowshoe rabbit, though characteristically a mountain ani- 

 mal, occurs in the brushy and timbered parts of the colder valleys. 

 Though much larger than the cottontail, it has proportionately shorter 

 legs and ears than the jack. In winter it turns snow white, except 

 the tips of the ears, which are jet black. The young, like those of the 

 jackrabbit, are born fully haired and with their eyes open. 



Cottontail rabbits are common in brushy areas of all the valleys, 

 except those in the extreme northwestern part of the State. They 

 are small and do not turn white in winter. Cottontails produce sev- 

 eral litters each year, and the young, unlike those of the snowshoe and 

 jackrabbits, are born with their eyes closed and their bodies hairless. 



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