94 
ORDERS OF MAMMALS— GNAWING ANIMALS 
embracing Iowa, — which is its centre of distri- 
bution, — Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, and the eastern parts of the Dakotas, Ne- 
braska and Kansas. Its length is about 74 + 3 
inches. The young are either two or three in 
number, and there is only one litter each year. 
The enemies of the Gopher are the weasel 
and the gopher snake. 1 Because of the damage 
done by Gophers, farmers generally wage war 
upon them with traps, strychnine, and poisoned 
grain. In Iowa, Minnesota and other states, 
many thousands of dollars have been paid out by 
county treasurers in bounties on Gopher scalps 
and tails. No animal in the West is more uni- 
versally disliked, nor more diligently destroyed. 
My acquaintance with the Gopher Family be- 
gan when I was a farmer boy, in Iowa, the 
storm centre of Ge'o-mys bur-sa'ri-us. Having 
RED POCKET GOPHER. 
trapped a few, I made the mistake of supposing 
that I knew more about the habits of those creat- 
ures than did my elders, who had not. In an 
evil moment, I announced that any strong boy 
could catch a Gopher by digging it out of its 
burrow, and my large brother offered me twenty- 
five cents if I could prove that claim within a 
week. 
That evening, with mattock and spade, I re- 
paired to my father’s corn-field, into which 
strange Gophers were rapidly migrating and set- 
tling; and finding a fresh hole with the owner in- 
side, I began to dig. My shepherd dog, Rover, 
assisted me all he could, chiefly by keeping me 
company, but also by digging when I rested. 
We dug into the twilight, and later on we dug 
into the night ; but the Gopher kept well ahead of 
us. Whenever we paused to listen, we could 
1 Pituophis. 
hear him digging hard, and to our dismay we 
found that he knew a thing or two about getting 
on in the world. With the descent of black dark- 
ness, our hopes of overtaking that Gopher de- 
scended also; and then pride, not hope of re- 
ward, was all that spurred us on. Would we 
have to give up beaten, by an ugly, pig-eyed old 
Gopher? 
When for about the thirtieth time I paused to 
wipe the accumulation of perspiration and prai- 
rie loam from my brow, Rover suddenly rushed 
off into the darkness. In the corn-rows thirty 
yards away, he seized something, shook it vig- 
orously, and a moment later came trotting back 
to me, carrying in his mouth a large Gopher! 
The beast had been migrating into the corn-field, 
and Rover simply caught him on the fly. 
Digging operations ceased abruptly at that 
point. Thanking Rover for his timely assistance, 
I accepted his contribution, and we marched 
home together. When I exhibited to my brother 
the Gopher that we had secured “by digging,” 
he was profoundly surprised, but promptly paid 
the money. Rover looked on smilingly, and said 
not a word ; but we both knew then that in catch- 
ing Gophers, steel traps are better than spades. 
THE PORCUPINE FAMILY. 
Erethizontidae. 
The Porcupine is at home either in tree-tops 
or on the ground, but it is always a slow-moving 
and dull-witted animal. It is easily captured or 
killed by man, but not so readily overcome by 
wild animals. In the woods, it loves to prowl 
around camps, and eat every scrap of leather 
or greasy board that it can find. It is fond of the 
bark of hemlock, beech and cottonwood, and 
often a Porcupine will remain in a good tree until 
he entirely strips it of its bark. 
The Canada Porcupine , 2 which is black, 
with a gray-tipped storm-coat, is found in New 
England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and 
thence northward and northwestward to Fort 
Churchill on Hudson Bay. The West and North- 
west is the home of another species, known as the 
Yellow-Haired Porcupine . 3 Large specimens 
weigh from 25 to 30 pounds. The flesh is not 
palatable to white men, but is eaten by Indians. 
The Canada Porcupine never should be called 
2 Er-e-ihi’zon dor-sa'tus. 3 E. ep-i-xan'thus. 
