. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. 94 ORDERS OP MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS embraeinn; Iowa,—which is its centre of distri- bution,—Ilhnois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and the eastern parts of the Dakotas, Ne- braslca and Kansas. Its length is about 71- + 3 inches. The young are either two or three in number, and there is only one litter each year. The enemies of the Gopher are the weasel and the gopher snake.' Because of the damage done by Gophers, fai-mcrs generally wage war upon them with traps, strych
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. 94 ORDERS OP MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS embraeinn; Iowa,—which is its centre of distri- bution,—Ilhnois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and the eastern parts of the Dakotas, Ne- braslca and Kansas. Its length is about 71- + 3 inches. The young are either two or three in number, and there is only one litter each year. The enemies of the Gopher are the weasel and the gopher snake.' Because of the damage done by Gophers, fai-mcrs generally wage war upon them with traps, strychnine, and poisoned grain. In Iowa, Minnesota and other states, many thousands of dollars have been paid out by county treasurers in bounties on Gopher scalps and tails. No animal in the West is more uni- versally disliked, nor more diligently destroyed. My acquaintance with the Gopher Family be- gan when I was a farmer boy, in Iowa, the storm centre of Ge'o-mys bur-sa'ri-us. Having. RED POCKET GOPHER. trapped a few, I made the mistake of supposing that I knew more about the habits of those creat- ures than did my elders, who had not. In an evil moment, I announced that any strong boy could catch a Gopher by digging it out of its burrow, and my large brother offered me twenty- five cents if I could prove that claim within a week. That evening, with mattock and spade, I re- paired to my father's corn-field, into wliich strange Gophers were rapidly migrating and set- tling; and finding a fresh hole \vith the owner in- side, I began to dig. My shepherd dog, Rover, me all he could, chiefly by keeping me company, but also by digging when I rested. We dug into the twilight,, and later on we dug into the night; but the Gojilicr kept well ahead of us. Whene\'er we jjaused to listen, we could ' Piltiophis. hear him digging hard, and to our dismay we found that he knew a thing or two about gettmg on in the world. With the descent of black dark- ness, our hopes of overtakin
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