Oct. 25, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



268 



after had been run out, when the rest were turned loose. 

 It is not so easy to cut out as it sounds, and only those of 

 long experience who have well-trained horses and a good 

 seat can do it, for many are the sudden twists and turns 

 the wild cattle make, and besides having to be done 

 quickly there is need of as little commotion as possible. 

 Cattle are easily stampeded, and at night the least thing, 

 Such as the jingle of a spur, will start them running. 

 While some do the cutting out the others hold the bunch, 

 and when a steer is driven near the edge, rush liim out to 

 a place where the cut out ones are held. 



Danger is attached to it all, which gives spice to the 

 work, for occasionally the bulls have bloody battles, each 

 one contending for the mastery. We held off when the 

 encounters took place and watched the fights, which 

 lasted quite a while, and had the attraction of the Span- 

 ish sport in which men take so active a part. They will 

 at times turn on man and horse, inflicting severe wounds, 

 one horse I remember perfectly having had its side slit 

 open for more than a foot. 



The cooks are busy all the time supplying the boys 

 with dinner, as they take turns to ride in, eat and saddle 

 a fresh horse, none being ridden over half a day. Gener- 

 ally by 3 o'clock the work is over, and while some drive 

 on the horses and cattle (cut out) to the next camp, others 

 stay behind and do the branding. Many people do not 

 understand how the right brand is put on the right calf: 

 but it is very easily explained, for the brand of the mother 

 is put on the calf. Mavericks when now found are put 

 up at auction and sold to the highest bidder. 



That day the move of camp was some ten miles, and it 

 was a very disagreeable ride, for it began to rain toward 

 night, but luckily the cook had put the tent up on dry 

 ground and a ditch carried the water off from around us. 



A yearling heifer was killed, beheaded and hung up. 

 The head was placed in a hole containing hot coals, 

 covered up and left to cook for some time. Upon being 

 dug up the brains were eaten by our boss, but I said, "No, 

 thank you," when he offered me some. 



On the next day's hunt I chased a cow about half a 

 mile in a dead run down a sandy gulch, but found when 

 I headed her that she belonged to one of the grangers or 

 "tater skinners," so the run only excited me and winded 

 my horse. 



That night we camped by a log cabin, in which we 

 spent the evening watching five of the boys playing 

 freeze-out poker for a steer, each one entering the game 

 taking five dollars' worth of chips. The game was very 

 exciting, and places near the board on which they played 

 were at a premium. Not being able to get near enough 

 to see I j>laced a board slanting against the wall and sat 

 upon it, having a bird's-eye view. I was not let alone 

 long, for one of the boys ("Sketer") pulled the board from 

 under me, so that I fell about four feet. This tickled 

 "Sketer" but it hurt me a good deal. G-. F. Blandy. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



THE GOPHERS AND POUCHED RATS.-I. 



BY K. W. SHUFELDT. 



EITHER internal or external cheek-pouches character- 

 ize quite a number of the Eodentia, and we saw 

 how that in our genus Cynomis, the so-called "prairie 

 dogs" of the Western Territories, these cavities were in- 

 side the mouth, one on either aspect, and quite shallow. 

 And I am inclined to believe that these little marmots 

 seldom make much use of them as a means to transport 

 food, nor have they the need to do so that some of the 

 other rodents have, as they, for the most part, feed upon 

 material to be found in abundance within a short distance 

 of their burrows. Further, it would seem that Cynomis 

 makes no special effort to hoard up a storehouse full of 

 eatables against long winter months. The specimen of 

 this animal which hibernated in my cellar this winter, 

 took no food down with him, but for as much as a fort- 

 night prior to his final disappearance he did carry down 

 with him each day a great quantity of newspapers, rags, 

 and everything he could lay his paws on to make a com- 

 fortable resting place. 



Then we remember that the chipmunks of the genus 

 Tamias are furnished with internal cheek-pouches of no 

 mean capacity, and every one knows who has ever 

 studied these interesting little ground squirrels, with any 

 care at all, how well they can use them. They will, when 

 carrying stones to their burrows, pack these natural 

 pockets of theirs so full that their heads sometimes ap- 

 pear to be double their normal size from the pouting of 

 the cheeks, and I am almost afraid to say how many 

 beech nuts I once removed from the pouches of a speci- 

 men of T, striata s that I had collected; certainly a great 

 many. 



Spermophiles, too, as we saw, also possess capacious 

 cheek-pouches which they put to the same use as does 

 Tamias, a feature which distinguishes them from the true 

 marmots on the one hand, while it has on the other 

 been responsible for their being called in many localities 

 "gophers," the only genus so designated among our Sei- 

 viHdo?. 



Finally, it was noted that certain spermophiline ani- 

 mals in Europe and western Asia were possessed of these 

 internal cheek-pouches, as for example the souslik of 

 Bohemia, Ireland and Hungary, and the S. concolor of 

 western Persia, an animal so notorious for its ravages 

 upon the grain fields of that country. 



Now, however, the next two families of the Rodentia 

 which we come to in our "List" are always thought of in 

 connection with these characteristic pouches. I refer to 

 the Geomyidce, or time gophers, and the Saccomyidai or 

 the pouched rats. The first of these two families we 

 find composed of some nine species grouped under 

 two genera (Tliomomys and Geomys), all of which are 

 comparatively small animals and all designated as 

 "pocket gophers." The Saccomyidoe of North America, 

 as we have seen, are represented by some eleven species, 

 distributed among four genera (Perognatlnis, Cricetodi- 

 jjiis, Dispodomys and Heteromys), but only three of these 

 are to be claimed as belonging to our United States fauna, 

 Heteromys being a West Indian and tropical group of 

 animals. 



The Saccomyidai are chiefly represented by the 

 "pouched" mice" and the "Kangaroo rats" (Dipodomys). 



THE PACIFIC POCKET-GOPHER (7'. t. hulhivorus). MALE; Life Size. 



Drawn by the author from Dr. Kennerly's plate in the " Pacific Railroad Reports" (1859), and adapted to the present article. 



I have already pointed out that among the Rodentia the 

 hairy skin of the face is reflected inward behind the in- 

 cisor teeth, thus dividing the cavity of the mouth into two 

 apartments which communicate mesially by a minute 

 opening when the animal chooses to constrict these parti- 

 tioning integuments. Among the hamsters and pouched 

 rats of the Old World fauna, we, as a rule, find them in 

 possession of large internal cheek-pouches, lined wdth 

 hair, and extending posteriorly even beyond the ears. 



Our pouched rats and gophers, of which we shall treat 

 in the present paper, have these pouches opening ex- 

 ternally one on either side of the mouth, and also lined 

 with a continuation of the facial integument, which 

 grows a fine, foft coat of bair, usually white in color. 

 Upon side view in such a form for instance as the Pacific 

 pocket gopher (See Fig. 1) the cheek-pouch is plainly to be 

 seen, and appears as a long, curved line, with its con- 

 cavity forward, and which extends from the commissure 

 of the mouth down the side of the throat. This line 

 marks the entrance to the cheek-pouch of that side. 



Here in New Mexico I have had the opportunity to ex- 

 amine several specimens of both Geomys castonops and 

 Thornomys talpoides umbrinus, the chestnut and the 

 Southern pocket gophers respectively. In such a form 

 as the Southern pocket gophers I found these cheek- 

 pouches very capacious, extending to a point on either 

 side behind the ears, and lined by the common integu- 

 ment, from which grew a short, white and beautiful 

 coat of hair. We usually find in the pouches of this ani- 

 mal a wad of the leaves, and at some seasons, the buds 

 of the sage bush (Artemisia); though of course it feeds 

 upon many other things. One that I had in confinement 

 for some time readily fed upon nuts of all kinds, pieces 

 of apples, raw potato and similar substances. Although 

 it showed a disposition to bite severely when first captured 

 and for a day or two afterward, after that I began 

 to notice that it bore handling with far better grace, and 

 no doubt in time would have become quite tame. 



This species of gopher usually burrows in the softer 

 varieties of soil, passing under ground considerably 

 deeper than does the mole, and carrying his excavation 

 to a depth of about 12 or 15ft. , where he terminates it by 

 a semi-globular cavity, which he duly lines with such 

 soft materials as he can secure for his nest. We may 

 easily secure specimens of this species by pouring suffi- 

 cient water into one of then- occupied burrows, to drown 

 its inmates out; and a sorry-looking gopher it is, too, 

 when he appears at the entrance of his subterranean 

 abode, with his large foreclaws made doubly prominent 

 by the matted wet hair on his feet, with his curious look- 

 ing mouth and now easily-seen entrances to his cheek- 

 pouches, and with his angry pair of almost Talpoidean 



eyes, which seem to fully express his indignation at such 

 a dastardly means to effect his capture. 



Members of the old Pacific Surveying Expedition found 

 this species in various localities throughout California, 

 and especially near San Francisco. 



A great deal yet remains to be studied and known in 

 reference to these animals; we are by no means in pos- 

 session of a full history of their habits, and in many in- 

 stances, we are completely ignorant of much that per- 

 tains to then- natural history. 



Even in the case of the common pocket gopher 

 (Geomys bursarius) I dare say there are a number of 

 chapters in his daily life that might be profitably en- 

 larged upon by naturalists to the benefit of natural 

 science in particular, and the profit of common know- 

 ledge in general. This can however only be accomplished 

 by long and patient observation, which only the few at 

 long and stated intervals are willing and anxious to un- 

 dertake. The habits of such creatures can only be suc- 

 cessfully studied in nature by those methods which Au- 

 dubon adopted to secure his data for the life histories of 

 his avian favorites. It means being in the forests and 

 fields at the haunts of the species you may be engaged 

 upon, at all seasons of the year, and at all times of the 

 day and at all times of the day and night; patient and 

 continuous observation by the "hour at a time. A few 

 data, however, seemed by these means, far excel in use- 

 fulness all that one may get by handling dry skins in the 

 museum trays, keep up the latter process as long as you 

 may please. 



Not so very long ago it was generally supposed that G. 

 bursarius used its cheek-pouches to carry out the sand or 

 soft soil which came away while it was engaged in exca- 

 vating its burrow; it's hardly necessary to say that such 

 a notion as this is now exploded, and it is well known 

 that the pouches are put to the use alone of transporting 

 its food. Packhard states that this species "burrows in 

 sandy soil and feeds on acorns, nuts, roots and grass, 

 which it carries to its burrows in its enormous hanging 

 cheek-pouches, which, when full, have an oblong form 

 and nearly touch the ground." 



.Generally this species is known as the "pocket gopher," 

 but in the State of Missouri, where it appears to be quite 

 common, it is known as the Mido. From tip to tip the 

 animal measures rather over 10in., its tail being generally 

 over Sin, in length; its coat above is of a reddisli brown, 

 while beneath it is a darker shade of the same color. The 

 fur is very soft and fluffy. Its eyes are quite minute, 

 while its inconspicuous ears are buried almost out of 

 sight in the fur of the sides of the head. In constructing 

 its burrow, it builds a central nest from which lead 

 numerous passages in different directions which open on 



