ZOOLOGY-MAMMALS. 
81 
spring of the western regions and the edges of perpetual snow on the mountains, would be 
equal to many degrees of latitude on the eastern coast, and judging from analogous facts should 
have an influence on these characters. Their principal food on the eastern slopes of the Cascade 
mountains was the pine nut, and during September I observed them very busy extracting these 
from the still hanging cones, ascending the trees to a considerable height, though at other times 
they rarely leave the ground. I find it stated in my notes that they had there a similar shrill 
cry to that of the eastern species. 
Specimens from Shoalwater bay measure: male, head and body, 5| inches; tail, 4 to 5 inches; 
head, 1^ ; ear, f — •£. From Steilacoom, Puget’s Island: male, 5^; tail, 4|; foreleg 2|; hindleg, 
3 inches. Female, 6 ; tail, 4 ; fore leg, 3 ; hind leg, 3^ inches. 
SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI. 
California Ground Squirrel. 
Jlrclomxjs ( Spermophilus) beecheyi, Richardson, Fauna Boreali-Amerfcana, I, 1829, 170; plate xii, B. 
Spermophilus beeche , F. Covier, Suppl. Buffon, I, Mamm. 1831, 331. 
Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, 1855, 334.— Ib. Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 307. 
» 
Sp. Ch. —Size of the cat squirrel, S. cinereus. Ears large, prominent. Tail more than two-thirds as long as the body. 
Above mixed black, yellowish brown, and brown in indistinct mottlings ; beneath, pale yellowish brown, Sides of head and 
neck, hoary yellowish, more or less lined with black, a more distinct stripe of the same, from behind the ears on each side, 
extending above the shoulders to the middle of the body. Ears black on their inner face. Dorsal space between the stripes 
scarcely darker than the rest of the back. Length, 9 to 11 inches ; tail, with hairs, 7 to 9. Hind feet, 2 to 2.30 inches. 
The marmot squirrel, called ground squirrel in Santa Clara valley, is found in incredible 
numbers in all the level or low land southward from San Francisco bay. It is one of the greatest 
pests to the farmer, destroying immense quantities of grain, and in spite of poisoning, 
drowning-out, shooting, and trapping, seems rather to increase than diminish in numbers. In 
travelling along the public road in a s age coach they are to be seen on every side, sitting 
boldly at the mouth of their burrow as the vehicle passes within a few yards, as if defying 
danger, those furthest off raised on their hind legs to have a better view, and looking like short 
gray stumps, so motionless do they sit. 
If one is fired at it disappears as if by magic, and even if you are fortunate enough to shoot 
it at a distance from any burrow, it will spend its last breath in the attempt to reach one, so 
that unless its head is shot off by a rifle ball, the chance of getting it is very small. But they 
may often be recovered by feeling for them with the ramrod when dead near the mouth of the 
burrow. 
They are very fine eating, and formerly sold well in San Francisco market, but since strych¬ 
nine has been used to kill them, no one will buy them for fear of being poisoned. 
When startled and about to run into their burrow, they make a shrill screaming cry, somewhat 
like that of our eastern striped squirrel, when frightened. 
It is said that these animals will often destroy 30 or 40 acres of wheat in a field, cutting off 
the heads and leaving none behind in their progress. Magazines of theirs are found in digging 
wells, thirty feet below the surface, and from the large pile of earth thrown out at the mouth of 
their burrows they must be very extensive. There are commonly two or three entrances near 
together, which probably communicate, and in many places these holes occur every few yards, 
so that there may be several hundred in an acre, and many appear to inhabit one burrow. 
They are very hard to drive away from their homes, remaining in the fenced gardens and 
about houses until they are killed. Being entirely diurnal in habits, and appearing most 
abundantly in the hottest part of the day, they are exposed to many enemies besides man, and 
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