Plains Prairie Dog 
plants, seeds, and even insects are eaten to some extent. The 
voice is a kind of bark whence they derive their name. It 
has been hkened to the barking of a young puppy. When 
approached from a distance they are to be seen sitting upon 
their hindquarters on top of their mounds, barking a noisy 
alarm, but at nearer approach they soon vanish into their 
holes. 
In early autumn they get very fat, and in the northern part 
of their range hibernate at least to a partial extent in winter, 
but this habit becomes less regular and prolonged in the more 
southerly parts of their range. Thus in Colorado they may 
be seen out on fine days all through the winter, but when a 
cold snap comes they disappear until it is over. 
There can be no doubt but that the Prairie Dog has greatly 
increased in numbers of late years in many districts, partly, 
no doubt, owing to the destruction of its natural enemies, 
such as coyotes (though these seem to hold their own pretty 
well), badgers, hawks, and eagles. Where this is the case 
they do an enormous amount of harm by destroying grass 
and pasture land, and have to be kept down by the use of 
poison or bisulphide of carbon, or better, by a combination of 
the two. 
A burrow was carefully surveyed by Mr. W. H. Osgood, of 
the Biological Survey, near Alma, Nebraska. He found 
that the hole went down almost perpendicularly for a distance 
of about 15 feet; it then turned horizontally for another 
9 feet, rising slightly towards the end. Off the horizontal 
passage was a horizontal nest lined with grass, while several 
old nests and the end of the horizontal passage had been 
plugged up with black earth brought from the surface. A 
little way down the vertical shaft was a side niche where 
probably the animal could turn around or pass another 
individual. 
The old story of the amicable association of the rattlesnake 
