t-like animal, and is most
plentiful on the plains of the Mississippi region. He is unusual in
appearance, dressed in brown and grey fur, with tiny white feet, small
eyes and ears, and a short stubby tail. His feet are wonderfully strong,
and his fore-paws are armed with strong, curved claws. But he is famed
for his wonderful fur-lined pouches which open inside his cheeks and
serve a peculiar use.

His entire life, with rare exceptions, is spent underground. There he
makes long tunnels for the purpose of securing tender roots for food;
these tunnels are about twelve to eighteen inches below the surface, and
usually wind under the foot of a tree where a sinking passage goes down
four to five feet further and leads to a large living-room. This is the
family nest and nursery, lined with grass and soft fur which Mrs. Gopher
has taken from her own body. Adjoining the living-room is a storage bin
filled with nuts, dried bits of roots, tobacco, and potatoes.

Much that is exaggerated has been said in regard to the adaptability of
the gopher for his work. But it is a fact that he is of all the diggers
best suited for his task. He uses his strong teeth, like a trench-digger
uses a pick, to loosen the earth; and while his fore-feet are kept
constantly at work in digging and pressing the dirt back under the body,
the hind feet also aid in shovelling it still farther back. When a
sufficient amount has heaped up behind him, he performs the strangest of
all his feats--he turns around, and places his hands vertically against
his chin, thus forcing himself backwards, pushing the dirt ahead of
himself until it is forced out of the tunnel. At the outer end of the
tunnel is formed a little hillock.

Dr. Merriam has made a special study of the gopher, and in speaking of
the strange habit of running backwards, he says that even in carrying
food to one of his barns or storehouses the gopher rarely turns round
but usually runs backwards and forwards, over and over again like a
shuttle on its track.

The gopher uses his pouches for carrying food, not dirt. When he has
eaten a sufficient amount of food, he fills his pouches. If a potato is
too large to be carried in this way, he trims it off to the right size.
His method of emptying his pouches is most interesting; with his two
tiny paws he delicately presses the food from his cheeks.

The woodchuck is an American basement-dweller of considerable renown.
His peculiar whistling cry has won