Volume 1

The vivparous quarupeds of North America / [John James Audubon].

  • John James Audubon
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The vivparous quarupeds of North America / [John James Audubon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    397/416 (page 375)
    An old male. Length of head and body . . . 13f inches. Tail (vertebrae) 8 do. Tail, to end of fur . . . . 91 do. Height of ear .... . • i do. From heel to point of nail 2k do. Young. Length of head and body 9 do. Tail (vertebrae) do. Tail, to end of fur . do. Height of ear i do. Tarsus ..... 2 do. HABITS. We regret to state, that with the habits of this species we are wholly unacquainted. Mr. Townsend, who kindly loaned us four specimens, from which we made our drawing and prepared our description, did not furnish us with any account of them. Of Spermophilus Beecheyi, which we have supposed might be found identical with this species, Dr. Richardson states that, “ Mr. Collie, sur- geon of his majesty’s ship Blossom, informs me that this kind of Spermo- phile burrows in great numbers in the sandy declivities and dry plains in the neighbourhood of San Francisco and Monterey, in California, close to the houses. They frequently stand upon their hind-legs when looking round about them. In running they carry the tail generally straight out, but when passing over any little inequality, it is raised as if to prevent its being soiled. In rainy weather, and when the fields are wet and dirty, they come but little above ground. They take the alarm when any one passes within twenty or thirty yards of them, and run off at full speed till they can reach the mouth of their hole, where they stop a little and then enter it; they soon come out again, but with caution, and if not molested, will proceed to their usual occupation of playing or feeding. Artemesias and other vegetable matters were found in their stomachs.” GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. One of the specimens obtained by Mr. Townsend is marked “ Falls of the Columbia River,” another “ Walla-walla ; ” the specimen procured by Douglass was obtained on the banks of the Columbia River, and if our conjectures are correct, that S. Beecheyi is the same as the present species, it exists also in considerable numbers in California.