The rubbing, rolling, and dragging of the body 
by males at places where females leave their scent, 
particularly around burrow entries, demands fur- 
ther note. These are by far the most frequently 
noted sexual behaviors. They occur primarily 
about the burrow into which the female has re- 
treated. Such retreats by the female may follow 
mutual courtship activities, but precede mountings 
by the male, or they may be interspersed between 
mountings, once this phase has begun. Typically 
the male extends the forehalf of his body down into 
the tunnel. The posterior half of the body is 
swung slowly back and forth in an arc with the 
penis and testes dragging over the ground. After 
a few seconds or minutes of this the male backs out. 
At this time, just as his head emerges, the head of 
the female can be seen with her nose in near con- 
tact with his. She immediately withdraws back 
into the tunnel. At this time he may scratch the 
soil at the burrow entrance, and occasionally he 
eats it. There ensues a more elaborate rolling in 
which there is considerable extension and twisting 
of the body. The forefeet are maintained in close 
contact with the entry, and are moved back and 
forth in much the same fashion as in the stamping 
gait, noted above. The hindquarters are swung 
back and forth across the funnel of the burrow 
mound, which leads down to the entry. As this is 
done the hindquarters rotate so that first one side 
and then the other is against the ground. One 
hind leg extends into the air, while the other, 
nearly fully extended, presses against the sloping 
sides of the funnel. This whole routine may last 
for as long as 15 minutes and may be repeated 
several times in succession. The impression one 
gets after watching this type of behavior in relation 
to the whole sequence of sexual activity, is that it 
heightens the sex drive of the male and facilitates 
later successful copulation. On one occasion, 
after a male had just completed a sequence of rub- 
bing, dragging, and rolling, he was noted to bend 
over and clean his penis in the fashion that usually 
immediately follows mounting and the exhibition 
of lordosis by the female. Between such sequences 
at burrow entries the male may engage in other 
behaviors of erotic implication. He may drag his 
penis and testes over small rocks or clods of dirt, 
1 or 2 inches in diameter. When the rocks or clods 
approach the size of a rat, the male will arch his 
body over the object and slowly rock the body 
back and forth across it with the ventral portion of 
the body in contact with the object. Rats drag 
sticks of one-half to three-quarters inch in di- 
ameter on to the burrow surface. This is done 
prior to initiation of sexual activity. The male 
will crawl under these sticks, so that they rub 
against the fur of his back, or he will drag his penis 
and testes over them or along them. He may also 
eat the bark of such sticks or the grass near the 
burrow entry (if it is a bolt hole). All of these ob- 
jects are saturated with the scent of the female. 
Mounting, and perhaps intromission, is the next 
phase of sexual activity. This normally does not 
occur until during the second night of sexual 
activity by the female. When the female has just 
given birth to young, males attempt to mount as 
soon as she goes out and begins leaving her scent. 
By the time a female is receptive to being mounted, 
there is usually more than one male about the 
surface of the burrow. At such times a male is 
occasionally attracted out of his accustomed range. 
The following is the typical sequence of behavior 
when the female is fully receptive: 
The female emerges and proceeds away from the 
burrow at a pace between a fast walk and a run. 
One or more males follow her. Just before the 
nearest male makes contact with her, she abruptly 
stops and settles with her belly nearly touching the 
ground. He initially grasps her with his forelegs 
just in front of her hindlegs. At this time he 
grasps her in the midback with his teeth. He 
gradually slides forward until he has grasped her 
by the nape of the neck with his teeth. By this time 
her stance is one of chest on the ground, neck 
arched backward with head held high, hindlegs 
extended and back arched upward (lordosis) so 
that the male is lifted clear off the ground. At this 
time, when intromission apparently occurs, her 
tail may be arched above the body. There is a 
sudden eruptive pulling away of the female from 
under the male. Total contact time is slightly over 
3 seconds. She wheels around toward him and 
they may rear up momentarily facing each other. 
He bends over, holds his penis with his forefeet 
and licks it. He may fall over backward during 
this process. The female crouches and watches 
him without moving until he ceases. Actually, he 
may begin bending over as soon as the female 
begins to pull out from under him, so that by the 
time she has wheeled around he has already 
grasped his penis. She either moves away or 
engages in a mild boxing with another male before 
moving away. In this initial receptive period there 
seemed to be no aggressive implication to this 
154 
