114- BULLETIN OF WISCONSIX NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 2. NO. 2. 
used by the Biological Survey in their many excellent publica- 
tions. 
]\Iy observations date from October, 1888. 
Spcnuophilus tridccemJiucatus (Striped Spermophile) . 
This Rodent, known locally as "Gopher/' is exceedingly abund- 
ant in our county. They frequent pastures, grain fields, road- 
sides — in fact anywhere except in the timber and flooded marshes. 
It is not uncommon to find them in dry marshes, even as far as 
half a mile from any solid earth. Their principal food is grains 
and grass. One killed on August 11. 1894, had 181 kernels of 
barley in its cheek pouches. 
\Mth us this species goes into hibernation from the first to 
20th of October, varying as does the season — and appears again 
late in ^larch or early in April — as soon as the frost is well out. 
of the ground and the days have become sunny and warm. 
Four and five appear to be the usual number of young, and 
when about one-third grown may be seen playing outside of their 
underground home. At this period they do not appear at all shy, 
and should one be surprised far from its home it runs about aim- 
lessly as if lost. 
Although they frequently burrow under grain shocks, throw- 
ing out considerable quantities of earth, yet seldom are they com- 
plained of as a destructive and detrimental animal. 
\Mien they first come forth from their winter homes they are 
shy and quiet. A few weeks of bright warm weather and their 
whistle may be heard at almost any hour of the day. The last 
ones seen in the fall are also very shy and quiet, as if ashamed to 
be seen abroad so late in the season. In the fall they forage from 
daylight till dark, and I have frequently seen them abroad long 
after sunset, even as darkness was falling. 
Tlie weather efiects their habits to a considerable extent. Dark, 
gloomy days few will be seen, vrhilc on bright sunshiny days it 
sometimes appears as if every living one is about, so numerous are 
they then. 
This species seldom has more than two openings to its under- 
ground home and often but one. 
yiy friend, Delos Hatch of Oakfield, had a pure white individ- 
ual as a pet during the summer of 1901. 
On two occasions I have seen one-third grown voung late in 
August, which tends to prove that the species does occasionally 
bring forth two litters in a year. On one occasion I observed one 
of these rodents to drag into its burrow a dead Garter Snake 
