PRAIRIE DOG. 
325 
out, seized his companion by one of his legs, and before we could reach 
the hole had drawn him completely out of sight. There was a touch of 
feeling in the little incident, a something human, which raised the animals 
in iny estimation, and ever after I did not attempt to kill one of them, 
except when driven by extreme hunger."’ 
Mr. Kendali, says, further on, of these animals : — “ They are a wild, 
Irolicsome, madcap set of fellows when undisturbed, uneasy and ever on the, 
move, and appear to take especial delight in chattering away the time, 
and visiting from hole to bole to gossip and talk over each other’s affairs — 
at least, so their actions would indicate. When they find a good location 
for a village, and there is no water in the immediate vicinity, old hunters 
say, they dig a well to supply the wants of the community. On several 
occasions I crept close to their villages, without being observed, to watch 
their movements. Directly in the centre of one of them I particularly 
noticed a very large Dog, sitting in front of the door or entrance to his 
burrow, and by his own actions and those of his neighbours, it really 
seemed as though he was the president, mayor, or chief— at all events, he 
was the “ big dog” of the place. For at least an hour I secretly watched 
the operations in this community. During that time the large Dog I have 
mentioned received at least a dozen visits from his fellow-dogs, which 
would stop and chat with him a few moments, and then run off to 
their domicils. All this while he never left his post for a moment, and I 
thought I could discover a gravity in his deportment not discernible in 
those by which he was surrounded. Far is it from me to say, that the 
visits he received were upon business, or had anything to do with the 
local government of the village ; but it certainly appeared so. If any 
animal has a system of laws regulating the body politic, it is certainly 
the Prairie Dog.” 
This marmot tumbles, or rolls over, when he enters his hole, “ with an 
eccentric bound and half-somerset, his hind-feet knocking together as he 
pitches headlong into the darkness below ; and before the spectator has 
recovered from the half-laugh caused by the di’ollery of the movement, he 
will see the Dog slowly thrust his head from his burrow, and with a pert 
and impudent expression of countenance, peer cunningly about, as if to 
ascertain the effect his recent antic had caused.” 
Mr. Kendai.i. thinks that the burrowing owl, which he mentions as “ a 
singular species of owl, im’ariably found residing in and about the dog 
towns,” is on the best of terms with these marmots, and says, ‘‘ as he is 
frequently seen entering and emerging from the same hole, this singular 
bird may be looked upon as a member of the same family, or at least, as a 
retainer M^hose services are in some, wav necessary to the comfort and 
