THE GROUND SQUIRRELS OF CALIFORNIA. 



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mainland ones. Fortunately for the present writers, our appeal to Mr. 

 Frank S. Daggett, Director of the Museum of History, Science and 

 Art, in Los Angeles, was promptly met by action, and Mr. L. E. Wyman 

 of Mr. Daggett's staff was detailed to go to Catalina and obtain a suffi- 

 cient number of specimens for deciding the doubtful questions. Mr. 

 Wyman was eminently successful, and the resulting series of skins and 

 skulls, together with the accompanying information, was freely placed 

 at our disposal for use in connection with the present paper. 



Mr. Wyman found the squirrels fairly swarming May 9 to 16, 1918, 

 at the upper end of a narrow tract of bottom land about a mile back 

 of Avalon. This tract, dotted with elderberry trees, had been seeded 

 to barley, and the grain stood knee-deep except in the spots where it 

 had been persistently eaten down by the squirrels. The hillside adjoin- 

 ing on the northwest was steep and fairly well covered with cactus and 

 chaparral, and in places it was honeycombed with burrows. The bottom 

 of the hill was beset with extensive diggings every fifty feet or so. 



Besides the barley, the squirrels were feeding on a variety of wild 

 vegetation. Each of the numerous stomachs examined contained a well- 

 chewed green mass. Cheek-pouches were found to contain barley blades 

 and certain seeds, and in one case four bulbs of "sour-grass" or "grass- 

 nuts'' (Brodlicea capitata), the largest of which was half an inch in 

 greatest diameter. These bulbs seem to be specially sought after, as 

 several small areas were found, usually on south-fronting grassy hill- 

 sides, where the ground was all dug up by the animals, and hulls of 

 Brodiaea bulbs were lying about. 



One ground squirrel was seen at work in a wild tobacco tree about 

 seven feet from the ground. He had gnawed at the stem near the top 

 until only a shred kept it from dropping. Gnawed shells of chilicothe 

 seeds were also found. 



Mr. Wyman believes that the notes and* actions of the Catalina 

 Island Ground Squirrel do not differ to any appreciable extent from 

 those of the mainland Beechey. The island animals were perhaps 

 slightly less noisy, though when once started to barking they seemed 

 hardly able to stop. They were found to be shy on open ground, 

 hustling to cover when the invader of their domain was yet 200 yards 

 off. By sitting quietly under a tree, however, Mr. Wyman had one 

 squirrel approach him to within ten yards and feed on barley shoots. 

 On the brushy hillsides, the collector was able to stalk his quarry with 

 ease. 



All the females taken were notably fat, and none contained embryos. 

 Also no young of the year were seen; so that it would seem that the 

 breeding season of the island squirrel is much later than that of the 

 mainland animal — later, at least, than May 16. Every specimen taken 

 by Mr. Wyman was "loaded with fleas;" these, however, quickly dis- 

 appeared and in no case caused any annoyance to the collector. 



Since ground squirrels were seen by the senior author commonly in 

 August, 1903, in the vicinity of the Isthmus, near the northwest end 

 of Catalina, it may be inferred that the animals are widely distributed 

 over this island. No species of ground squirrel whatever exists native 

 on any of the other California islands. 



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