CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDEK 1. RODENTIA. 
863 
spects its natural history is alike curious and interesting. It lives in burrows on tlie prairies of 
the Missouri and Platte rivers, and also farther south in Texas, New Mexico, and on the borders 
of Sonora and California. Often several hundreds of families are collected toffcther in villao-es, 
called "Dog-towns" by the trappers and hunters. Before each hole there is a small rnound, on 
which the marmots may be often seen sitting on their hind-legs, or stretched up and looking 
about. They are noisy creatures, uttering a sharp "chip, chip, cJaip," called barking. At each cry 
they jerk the tail, as if it cost them an effort to speak so loud. The holes go down at an angle 
of forty degrees for some distance, and then diverge sideways and upward. At the end of their 
burrows there is a bed of dry grass. They are very watchful, and if a person approaches they 
dive into their holes. If one will wait for fifteen minutes they will peep out, sometimes uttering 
a wdaistling note. They appear to feed more by night than by day. In the colder regions in- 
habited by this animal, it is believed that it hibernates, but not in the warmer. The flesh is said 
to be sweet, tender, and juicy. 
One of the most remarkable circumstances in respect to the prairie-dog is, that their burrows 
are the resort of burrowing owls and rattlesnakes, these creatures sometimes apparently living in 
the holes with the marmots; and yet there is good evidence that they sometimes devour them. 
Lewis and Clark dug out a rattlesnake from a burrow which had a marmot in his stomach. There 
is reason to believe, also, that the owls feed on the young marmots, and sometimes even on the 
full-grown ones. It is supposed, furthermore, that they enter the burrows and eat the remains of 
such marmots as die there, and thus they serve as scavengers of the village. Nevertheless, the 
owls and marmots seem to live on the best terms with each other, and the rattlesnakes are at 
least tolerated, probably as hangers-on whom it is difficult to get rid of 
The following sketches, from Kendall's narrative of the Texan Expedition to Santa Fe, are 
written with equal truth and humor, and give an excellent account of one of the large marmot 
villages: "We had proceeded but a short distance, after reaching this beautiful prairie, before we 
came upon the outskirts of the commonwealth. A few scattering dogs were seen scampering in, 
their short, sharp yells giving a general alai'ra to the whole community. The first brief cry of 
danger from the outskirts was soon taken up in the center of the city, and now nothing was to 
be heard or seen in any direction but a barking, dashing, and scampering of the mercurial and 
excitable denizens of the place, each to his burrow. 
^ " Far as the eye could reach the city extended, and all over it the scene was the same. We 
rode leisurely along until we had reached the more thickly settled portions of the place. Here 
we halted, and after taking the bridles from our horses, to allow them to graze, we prepared for 
a regular attack upon the inhabitants. The burrows were not more than ten or fifteen yards 
apart, with well trodden paths leading in diflferent directions, and I even fancied I could discover 
something like regularity in the laying out of the streets. 
" We sat down upon a bank, under the shade of a musquit, and leisurely surveyed the scene be- 
fore us. Our approach had driven every one to his home in our immediate vicinity, but at the 
distance of some hundred yards, the small mound of earth in front of each burrow was occupied 
by a dog, sitting erect on his hinder legs, and coolly looking about for the cause of the recent 
commotion. Every now and then, some citizen more adventurous than his neighbor would leave 
his lodgings, on a flying visit to a friend, apparently exchange a few words, and then scamper 
back as fast as his legs would carry him. 
"By and by, as we kept perfectly still, some of our near neighbors were seen cautiously poking 
their heads from out their holes, looking craftily, and at the same time inquisitively, about them. 
Gradually a citizen would emerge from the entrance of his domicile, come out upon his observa- 
tory, peek his head cunningly, and then commence yelping, somewhat after the manner of a 
young puppy, a quick jerk of the tail accompanying each yelp. It is this short bark alone that 
has given them the name of dogs, as they bear no more resemblance to that animal, either in ap- 
pearance, action, or manner of living, than they do to the hyena. 
"We were armed, one with a double-barreled shot-gun, and another with one of Colt's repeat- 
ing-rifles, of small bore, while I had my short, heavy rifle, throwing a large ball, and acknowledged 
by all to be the best weapon in the command. It would drive a ball completely through a buf- 
