NATURAL HISTORY. 559 
mals feeding on it. A few scattered mezquit trees also grew 
among them. Rivers did not limit the colony ; for they were 
found on both sides of several streams. In several places I 
noticed a colony on the summit of elevated plateaus or hills, 
where the country was exceedingly barren, and the herbage so 
scant as to appear entirely inadequate to their subsistence. 
In this case it was evident that the colony was not in a flou- 
rishing condition, as many of the habitations were deserted. 
Of the habits of these animals I can say little from obser- 
vation, although I saw thousands of them, I would gladly 
have taken a day to conceal myself near them for the purpose 
of watching their actions, but when in the most interesting 
places we were moving forward. Major Long, in his Expedition 
to the Rocky Mountains, says they pass the winter in a lethar- 
gic state. Other travellers deny this, and say that they 
come from their holes during the winter whenever the weather 
is mild. I saw them out on some pretty cold days in Novem- 
ber. ven in the plains further to the north, where snow lies 
on the ground for weeks, and where the cold is severe, they 
are seen out during the winter. 
Where they obtain water has puzzled naturalists. Some 
travellers say that they dig down until they find it. This can- 
not be the case ; for I have seen them on dry elevated plains, 
twenty miles from water, and where there was no dew. 
The color of the prairie dog is light brown. The lower 
part of its body, with the face and neck, are of a whitish yel- 
low. Its size varies from that of a gray squirrel to that of a 
northern woodchuck, which it resembles in form more than 
any other animal. The body of a full-grown specimen is 
about twelve inches in length ; its tail, which is bushy, be- 
tween three and four. It stands erect like a squirrel, with its 
tail in constant motion, particularly when seated upon the top 
of its hillock chirping to its companions. As we drew near 
their villages, an alarm seemed to be given by one placed as a 
sentinel on a hillock in the outskirts, As soon as the signal 
