88 The Mammals of Colorado 
and enriches the soil, when it might otherwise have been 
lost. 
Gophers do not hibernate but they are active all the winter; 
where the ground is frozen they work below the frost line but 
probably not as actively as during other seasons; where the 
snow lies deep, as it does in our mountain districts, the 
earth is brought to the surface as usual and pushed out under 
the snow in long cylinders, which may be seen there after the 
snow has melted in the spring. They store a certain amount 
of food in the fall but to just what extent they are dependent on 
it for winter use is not known. Their food consists of roots, 
tubers, and other hard vegetable substances, and they will 
also eat grass and leaves of some kinds. They may be very 
injurious at times about farms, eating and destroying many 
potatoes and other root crops, and also damaging fruit and 
other trees by tunnelling about the roots and eating the bark; 
they are known to work all around a tree and to eat the bark 
off all around every root, and thus kill the tree. The cheek 
pouches are used for conveying the food to the store-rooms 
in the tunnel but never for carrying out earth from their 
excavations, though many people suppose that this is the case. 
The food is put into the pouches by means of the fore paws 
and is emptied out in rather a curious manner. Dr. Merriam 
describes the process, and I can confirm it by my own 
observations : 
" The fore feet are brought back simultaneously along the 
sides of the head until they reach a point opposite the hinder 
end of the pouches; they are then pressed firmly against the 
head and carried rapidly forward. In this way the contents 
of the pouches are promptly dumped out in front of the 
animal. Sometimes several strokes are necessary." 
Not very much is known about the breeding habits of 
Pocket Gophers; they breed in spring and early summer, and 
in most cases at least have but small litters of young, two 
