8o 
RODENTS. 
in the middle line, bordered on the sides with yellowish, with a narrow black band 
running between the two tints. This species ranges from the Red River in 
Canada to Texas. The long-eared gopher \S. grammurus), ranging from Colorado 
to California, may be cited as an example of another group of the genus, in which 
the ears are very large, and often fringed with long hairs, while the tail is very 
long and bushy. Fossil remains show that susliks were more widely distributed 
in Europe during the Pleistocene period than they are at the present day; some of 
their remains having been discovered in the brick-earths of the Thames "V alley. 
All the susliks are social and burrowing animals, generally 
Habits. se l ec ting open plains, with a sandy or clayey soil, for the construction 
of their domiciles, and studiously avoiding forests or swampy districts. The burrows 
of the common suslik are as much as from six to eight feet in depth, and have each 
the common suslik (J nat. size). 
but a single entrance. When, however, these animals retire to the depths of their 
burrows for their winter sleep, they excavate a second passage from the sleeping- 
chamber to within a short distance from the surface of the ground. On awakening 
in the spring, an exit is made through this second passage, and the original entrance 
blocked up; and hence the length of time that a suslik-burrow has been occupied 
is indicated by the number of these deserted entrances around it. Within the 
burrow a large quantity of food, such as roots, seeds, berries, etc., is accumulated 
in the summer and autumn for winter use. Susliks will, however, also eat mice 
and small birds and their eggs. The young are born in the spring, and usually 
comprise from four to eight in a litter. If captured sufficiently young, susliks can 
be easily tamed ; and their flesh is much esteemed by the peasants of North-Eastern 
Europe and Siberia. 
In America all the more northern species pass the colder portion of. the year 
in a state of hibernation, but in the more southern portion of their range the period 
