Gunnison's Prairie Dog 153 
are cold and it hibernated, coming about again the next 
spring, and would come to the house, open an unlatched 
screen door with its paw, and come into the kitchen to beg 
for bread and sugar, its favorite dainty. 
In Colorado Springs, quite a number of years ago, one 
or two Prairie Dogs, I have forgotten which, occupied a 
hole on a vacant lot all surrounded by houses, and would 
feed from children's hands. I do not know their history 
but presume they were tamed animals which had been 
turned out. 
Cynomys gunnisoni (named for Captain Gunnison, 
U. S. A., who commanded the expedition by which 
the first specimens were taken). Gunnison's 
Prairie Dog. 
Cynomys gunnisoni Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 334 
(1855)- 
Type locality. — Cochetopa Pass, Saguache Co., Colo. (Kreutzfeldt). 
Measurements. — Total length, 13.25 ; tail vert., 2.3 ; hind foot, 2.25. 
Description. — (From specimen taken at Wagon Wheel Gap, Min- 
eral Co., July 13th) : Color of back and top of head brown, with many 
black and some white hairs intermixed, giving the animal a blackish 
appearance; buff line above eye; sides and upper surfaces of feet 
fulvous; underparts similar, somewhat lighter; tail like back on 
basal half; rest mixed black and white, tipped with white. A 
skin taken at Salida, April ist, has hair longer, and the animal is 
paler. Young are lighter in color with less black. In many 
specimens the white of the tail is nearly worn away. 
Distribution. — Gunnison's Prairie Dog ranges from South Park 
and the Leadville district south through the San Luis Valley to New 
Mexico; it is in Gunnison County east of the Black Mesa, and in 
southwestern Colorado south of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Of 
course there are some parts of this region too high for them, but in 
the suitable locations this is the Prairie Dog found there. It is 
found in Park, Teller, Lake, Chaffee, Costilla, Custer, Fremont, 
Saguache, Mineral, Gunnison, western Montrose, San Miguel, and 
Montezuma counties, and very likely others from which at present 
records are not available. 
