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regretting that an earlier knowledge of its occurrence in Dr. Kirtlaad’s 
list had not permitted its appearance in the body of this report. 
The writer can recall a common pastime of the school boys in North- 
ern Illinois. During the long noon intermissions of the spring or sum- 
mer term, several of the larger boys, with a couple of pails, would resort 
to some adjacent field and ‘“‘drown out gophers,” by pouring water into 
their burrows ; the nearly strangied animals came more dead than alive 
to the surface and were readily caught alive, or more probably caught by 
the dogs, who understood the sport as well as the boys. No mercy is 
shown them, as they have a bad reputation among the farmers, mainly 
because of their injuring cornfields by digging up the newly planted 
seed. I have known farmers, residing on newly broken prairie, to feed 
the gophers abundantly by scattering corn on the. fields and about the 
burrows so that the planted corn might not be molested. The corn thus 
fed had been previously soaked in poisoned water. This, with shooting 
and “drowning out” usually proved an effectual safeguard for the plant- 
ed corn. This species, like the prairie rattlesnake Caudisona tergeminus, 
rapidly disappears before the plough, rarely invading fields not adjacent 
to meadows or wild prairies. 
The carnivorous habits of this species have been mentioned in con- 
nection with the Grey Gopher. 
Dr. Hoy, of Wisconsin, has shown that this animal feeds upon mice 
and insecis when captive, killing and devouring mice with all the dex- 
terity and ferocity of the weasel. Dr. Hoy found the skins of meadow 
mice in the burrows of this'spermophile, and, as Mr. Kennicott suggests, 
it is quite likely that their good offices in the destruction of mice and 
insects more than compensates for any mischief they may do in corn- 
fields. | 
This is the most beautiful inhabitant of the prairie. Lithe and grace- 
ful, beautifully striped and spotted, it takes the place on the prairie of 
the common chipmonk or striped squirrel of the woodlands. 
Their droll manner, under observation, is described by Kennicott : 
‘‘Tn passing near a knoll inhabited by them, numbers may be seen standing upright 
at the entrance of their burrows, so straight and motionless as to be easily mistaken for 
as many sticks. But as you approach one he will disappear by a movement so rapid 
that he can scarcely be followed by the eye; and if it were not for the whistling chatter 
accompanying his disappearance you might think your vision had deceived you, and 
that nothing had been there. But, upon stepping back several rods, it is more than 
likely ne will have resumed his position before you are aware of it. If you remain 
close to his hole, he will only thrust ont his head and eye you suspiciously.” 
Five to nine young—usually six or seven—are brought forth at the 
end of May or first of June; they are naked, blind, and remarkably em- 
