Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-04-04
PralrIe-DOg Towns.

ONE OF inc peCuIlar1t1eS or our 1r1enQ,
the marmot, is that he likes company, and
in the middle of the prairie forms an ex-
tensive settlement Sometimes there are
hundreds of families in one of these, and
there is nothing among the beasts which
reminds one more of town. Each long
whiskered marmot has his own house
where he lives with his mate; a couple as
domestic and proper as one could wish
to see. If you lie in the grass quite still,
some distance away, you can hardly help
laughing at the ridiculous mimic they
make of their betters. They visit and re-
turn again. One sits sedately upon his
hinder legs, nibbling an especially nice
bulb, and fiinging the bad pieces away
with particularly impatient and spiteful
gestures Another comes and sits himself
down. and begins to investigate the dis
tant end of what his neighbor is eating.
Then they quarrel. You can hear them
complaining long way off. By and by,
of course, one of them gets it all. They
are always visiting. Each dame in the
settlement is thoroughly acquainted, no
doubt, with the arrangements of each of
her friends bed-chamber. All the day
long, until night settles down, there is a
constant running to and fro and chatter
ing. Among all the houses, all alike,
each one knows his own, and will en-
deavor to reach it in case Of alarm. There
are few who have ever seen the inside of
a prairie dogs residence. 1t is not intri-
cate, like the tunnel of mole, but it is so
deep and capacious that a great deal Of
digging and many pals of water are neces
sary to cause him to abandon it. His
house, like the Englishman's, without any
constitutional provision to that effect, is
at once his house and his castle.
The beaver has long been celebrated as
builder, but many of his lesser neigh
bors are almost equally skillful. Any day
when it begins to rain one may see the
prairie dog at work repairing his resi-
dence. His principal object seems to be
to make the mould higher, and this is the
way he does it. One goes down inside
after dirt. You can see it flying out at
the top in little spurts. The other re-
moves it from the mouth of the opening
as fast as it comes. When a sufficient
quantity has been thrown out they begin
to shape the mound. One goes to the
base and pushes the new earth upward
with the forepaws, not backward, but as
one throws upward an armful of anything.
The other takes this earth as it comes;
spreads it very nicely and takes great
deal of pains. But it seems that this
earth must be hardened-made compact
and smooth. The beaver accomplishes q
task of this kind by striking it with his
heavy and hairless tail. Our friend has
no tail to speak of-though what there is
is the most vigorously wagged of all Or
he must needs use his head. This is the
Of Gnr al
ing himself into proper shape, he ducks
his good-looking frontlspiece between his
forelegs, and administers quick success
sion of thumps upon his work, at the
vigor and effectiveness of which you
would be astonished. Then the top of
his head is encrusted with a coating of
earth, and in this predicament he has the
udicrous appearance of having on cap
OF dark material and curious pattern.
But the marked characteristic of our
friend is that voice of his, which has civ.
en- him his reputation. The moment
stranger approaches, the whole settlement
set up 8 clamor which does not subside
as loRg as they can see him, climbing
upon the tops of their houses, and stretch
ing their short bodies to the utmost ex-
tent upward. If he comes too near, there
is most precipitate departure for home;
hundred feet twinkle in the air at once
as they disappear. But he has the facul-
ty of reversing himself with the celebrity
of a politician, and almost at the same
instant his head appears above the surface
again; and as the intruder passes on, he
raises his voice in that sharp, querulous,
i'll natured squeak, fully satisfied, no
doubt, that he has given his enemy ter
rible fright.
In truth, he himself is not easily fright
ened. The broad highway passes some
times through the midst of his village,
and he remains there for years afterward.
His castle, before mentioned, is almost
security from harm. He is al
ways ready to make that sudden and
reversal of himself. If killed,
he falls into his hole, and an individual is
seldom caught away from his village.
Water is not one of his necessities. Vigil
ance is his great characteristic. Know
ing that his food consisted of the soft
bulbs near the roots of almost all grasses,
and seeing that the immediate neigh
oorhood of his village was always brown
ana almost bare, have often wondered
When he made his cautious excursions in
search of food. Afterward, on moon
light nights, I have seen dozens of them
nurrylng home, alarmed at my distant
snd never uttering . souegk
lndl they were at their own thrashnida
La EenbtyiSY. tbe 0TaifIa' dn1 hanoy,s IA !