352 
VERTEBRATA. 
desert, or at all events, of stony places and sandy situations. The burrows are dry, shaped after 
the fashion of those of rabbits, but always with two entrances, and with these near heaps of 
stones; and in the bottom of these burrows they form for themselves comfortable couches of 
leaves and other vegetable matters. They are, to a very considerable extent, nocturnal animals, 
and not only so, but in their nightly excursions they seek the most lonely places. The mountain 
gullies, and the narrow strips of land by the banks of rivers, where they are least likely to meet 
with enemies, are their chosen places, and, secure in these, they nibble the fresh bark and buds of 
the shrubs. In summer, they live upon the scanty vegetation w^hich the arid wastes produce. 
As is the case with the former species, they collect stores against the winter, and the people of 
Siberia look upon them as a kind of "Aveather-wisers," always concluding that the storm is at 
hand when those little animals collect their stores with more than ordinary diligence. They do 
not collect their stores into one great magazine, as is the case with the former species, but into a 
number of heaps of a hemispherical shape, and about a foot in diameter each, which may be seen 
near their burrows from about the month of September through the winter; but as the spring- 
approaches they disappear, and by the time that the snow is off the ground they are nearly gone. 
They are very quick and active in their motions; but they are so timid that they are not easily 
tamed, and in a state of nature they are so small and feeble that they are exposed to many ene- 
mies. During the day they are the victims of birds of prey, and in the night, the time when in 
general they are most abroad, they are captured by lynxes, martens, and various others of the 
weasel tribe. 
The Northern Lagomys, L. Hyioerboreus, is less than five inches long, and is of a grayish 
brown color ; it is found at the northeastern extremity of Asia. The Russet Lagomys, or Red- 
dish SuLGAN, L. Tufescens, inhabits the rocky hills of Cabul; the Indian Sulgan, L. Roylii, is 
found in the Himmalayan Mountains; the Red-Shouldered Sulgan, L. JVepalensis, is a native of 
Nepaul. 
In our country there is a single species of Lagomys, the Little Chief Hare, L. princeps. 
This inhabits the Rocky Mountains from latitude 62" to 60°. N. It frequents heaps of stones, in 
the interstices of which it makes its way with facility. At sunset, it often mounts a stone and 
calls its mate by a shrill whistle; when surprised by man, it utters a similar cry. It feeds on 
vegetables; its other habits are little known. 
THE COMMON EUROPEAN SQUIRREL. 
THE SCIURID^. 
This family, named from Sciurus, a Squirrel, includes not only the diversified and interesting 
tribe of Squirrels, but the Mai^mots and Spermophiles, animals having afiinities with them, but 
in some cases, differing from them in certain important characteristics. 
Genus PTEROMYS : Fteromys, or Flying-Marmots. — The term Pteromys is derived from the 
