Issued November 25, 1910 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAa. SURVEY— Circular No. 76. 
H. W. HENSHAW, Chief of Bureau. 
THE CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRREL. 
By C. Hart Merriam, Consulting Biologist. 
Ground squirrels are among the most destructive of our native 
mammals, causing losses to agriculture amounting to upward of ten 
Fig. 1.— Douglas and California or Deechey ground squirrels. 
millions of dollars each 3^ear. Most of the Western States are over- 
run by them. California is no exception, having within its borders 
not less than three genera and a dozen species. Of these the most 
important in its relation to man is the large gray species variously 
known as the California, Digger, or Beechey ground squirrel {Citellus 
heecheyi). It is about the size of the eastern gray tree squirrel," and 
like it has upright squirrel-like ears and a long bushy tail (fig. 1). 
a Average measurements of the Beechey ground squirrel are: Total length from tip 
'A nose to tip of tail hairs 424 mm. or 16f inches; length of tail to tips of hairs 178 mm. or 
7 inches. 
02030°- Cir. 70—10 
( I 
