24 



COMMON MAMMALS OF WESTERN MONTANA. 



thai they refuse to take poison, they can best bo sbot or caught in 

 steel daps or rat traps bailed with bacon, grain, or other attractive 

 food. Hul these makeshift methods of destruction are expensive, and 

 the far-sighted man will destroy the chipmunks while poison is still 

 effective. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Chipmunks should be destroyed in this region, because they both 

 damage crops and harbor young fever ticks. This may best be ac- 

 complished by the use of strychnine in flour-coated or tallow-coated 

 wheat, but may be done at greater expense with the aid of guns and 

 traps. 



Pia. 15. — Side-Striped ground squirrel killed !>}' carrying poisoned grain in cheek 



pouches. 



SIDE-STRIPED GROUND SQUIRRELS. 



Side-striped ground squirrels (fig. 15), known also as rock squir- 

 rels, tiger squirrels, and two-striped chipmunks, occur throughout 

 much of the rocky, timbered country of western Montana. 



AS TICK HOSTS. 



These striped ground squirrels are less important tick hosts than 

 chipmunks only because they are not so generally distributed. Since 

 they are very often infested with young fever ticks and have the 

 chipmunks' habit of frequenting temporarily unoccupied log cabins, 

 it is very important that war be waged against them in fever-infested 

 localities. Young fever ticks were taken from more than half of 

 those shot during these investigations. 4."> being found on a single 

 animal. 



484 



