THE CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRREL. 
9 
coated grain, except during the rainy season, yields far better results 
than soaked grain, and kills the animals more quickly, so that they 
are much more likely to die above ground, where they can be seen. 
The success of poisoning with coated grain is due largely to the 
squirrel's habit, during the dry season, of gathering seeds and carry- 
ing them home in its cheek pouches. The cheek pouches are muscular 
sacs, one on each side of the jaw and throat, each large enough to hold 
about 200 kernels of barley. Much of the food carried in the cheek 
pouches is not eaten at the time, but taken to underground store- 
houses where it is kept for winter use. Wlien grain coated with a 
properly prepared strychnine solution is carried in the pouches, enough 
of the poison is dissolved and absorbed to kill the animal at once. 
Piper made the important discovery that strychnine is far more 
quickly absorbed by the cheek pouches than by the stomach, and 
Fig. 3.— Result of poisoning 6 acres at Capistrauo. 
that one-fifth the quantity necessary to kill by the stomach will kill 
when taken into the pouches. It follow^s that coated grain, which 
carries the poison on the outside, acts much more promptly than 
soaked grain, which carries the poison in its interior and must be 
ground by the teeth, swallowed, and partly digested before it can 
act. A practical advantage of the coated grain is that a large per- 
centage of the squirrels are overcome by the poison while still engaged 
in gathering the scattered kernels and die before entering their holes. 
This may seem a trifhng matter, but ranchmen using the poison are 
greatly encouraged when they can see the result of their labors. 
The accompanying illustration (fig. 3) shows 115 dead ground 
squirrels picked up on a 6-acre field at Capistrano, Orange County, 
August 23, 1909, a few hours after putting out 20 pounds of barley 
coated with the starch-strychnine preparation. About 50 turkey 
