74 
ORDERS OP MAMMALS— GNAWING ANIMALS 
and burrow deeply in the ground. They seldom 
frequent rocks, and seldom climb trees. They 
are essentially dwellers in open country, where 
they can range freely, and behold a goodly por- 
tion of the world about them. Even fields of 
standing grain are distasteful to them, and they 
move to the open country around their borders. 
Of spermophiles north of Mexico there are 
thirty-one full species and forty-two subspecies, 
or races. Going westward, they are first found in 
western Indiana and Michigan, from which they 
spread northwest and southwest throughout the 
whole western half of the United States, save 
the timbered areas. They also range into Mex- 
ico, Canada, and Alaska. They are at home on 
the rich, rolling prairies of the Dakotas, the level, 
floor-like plains of Nebraska, the alkali flats of 
Utah, the hot deserts of Arizona, and the dry 
valleys and mountain regions of California. 
They seem to be most numerous in California 
and the Dakotas, where they do much damage 
to crhps. 
All the ground squirrels have cheek-pouches, 
dig deep burrows (unless the earth is too rocky), 
store quantities of grain in the autumn for win- 
ter food, and in cold latitudes live all winter in 
their burrows. If forced to do so, they will 
live amongst rocks, and it is surprising to note 
how they can live in situations both high and 
low, dry and wet. Their favorite food is grain, 
seeds of every description, green grass, and hay, 
and their worst habit is digging up seed grain. 
Some species eat quantities of destructive 
insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, cut-worms, 
and crickets, and in this way partly compensate 
the farmer for the grain they devour. In fact, 
from all observations made thus far it seems that 
in the insect season, insects form a considerable 
proportion of the daily food supply of these in- 
dustrious little animals. Not only do they eat 
all kinds of ground insects, but they also devour 
mice, and almost any other flesh that comes 
within their reach, particularly dry meat ad- 
hering to the bones of large animals which have 
died near their holes. 
Ground squirrels are prolific, and bring forth 
from seven to ten young in each litter. Their 
enemies are coyotes, foxes, badgers, skunks, 
hawks and owls. 
The spermophiles of North America are so 
wide-spread, so numerous and so important it 
is necessary that two or three of the leading 
species should be specially noticed. 
The Thirteen-Lined, or Leopard Sper- 
mophile , 1 is the most familiar and widely dis- 
tributed species, and although one of the 
smallest, it is also the most strangely marked. 
Nature was in a sportive mood when she marked 
the back and sides of this little creature with 
seven broad stripes of dark brown, then laid 
between them six narrow stripes of pale yellow, 
and finally marked each of the seven brown 
stripes with a row of large, pale yellow spots. 
The yellow spots on the brown lines are the first 
feature of the color scheme to catch the eye, and 
they distinguish this animal almost as far as 
it can be seen. Its under parts are pale yellow, 
and its size is 4- 3^ inches. 
Do not call this animal the “Striped” Sper- 
mophile, because that name would apply to sev- 
eral other species, and be worthless; and do not 
call it the “Striped Gopher,” because it is not a 
“gopher” of any kind. 
The Thirteen-Lined Spermophile inhabits 
THIRTEEN-LINED SPERMOPHILE. 
about one-third of the United States, extending 
from Fort Wayne, Indiana, southwestward to 
Fort Worth, Texas, and northwestward to the 
plains of the Saskatchewan. Its western limit 
is the Rocky Mountains, but nowhere does it 
live in timbered regions, being strictly a prairie 
animal. 
Its burrow is a hole about two inches in diame- 
ter, which descends quite steeply into the earth 
until it passes below the frost line (two to three 
feet), after which it runs off in a more or less 
horizontal course for ten or fifteen feet farther. 
If the burrow is an old one, and much used, it 
is a long and difficult task to dig to the end of it, 
and few boys undertake it more than once. 
1 Ci-tel'lus tri-de'cem-lin-e-a'tus. 
