The Van Buren press., 1896-03-28
OLYMPIC SENTINEL.
The whistling Marmot Is Most Peculiar
Rodent.

Rodent.
Five years ago the Olympic mountains
we're described as the last tract of uneX-
plored land within the United States,
and the same statement holds good to
day, for, although a few parties have
crossed the range from east to west no
one has yet traversed the entire dis
lance from the Slokomish river to
Cape Flattery, and even the location
of the largest peaks-Olympus and
Constance-is to great extent unde-
oided.
As game region, the Olympics have
gained worldwide reputation, and
goodlv number of dollars are annually
spent by hunting parties in attempts
to penetrate into the interior of the
well-known Jupiter hills, where the
cow elk raises her calf in security; the
she bear guards her cubs against the
attacks of the gaunt gray wolf, and the
doe with fawn fees to q higher altitude
for security when she hears the warn
ing cry of that guardian of the gorge,
the whistling marmot
The whist1ing marnot is the largest
of American rodents, being equaled in
size only by the beaver. The marmots
are thiclset animals, weighing, when
full grown, from 40 to 60 pounds and
measuring over all from 20 to 30 inches,
in length. The head is broad and mas
sive, and rests on the powerful shoul-
ders with hardly an apology for neck.
The fore limbs are short, thick, FIVE
toed, and armed with strong claws for
digging. Like all the other members of
this family, they are provided with pow
erful gnawing teeth, which can bite
| through shoelace or an alpine staff, as
the case requires.
AS the weary traveller tolls laborious-
| ly up the mountain trail his progress
is suddenly arrested by the sound of
| long, clear whistle, floating down the
| canyon. The sound is so human that
unless he has heard it before he instinc
lively answers 1T, thinking it to be the
call of comrade. The cry is repeated
at short intervals, until the traveller APP
| proacnes too near the warren, when 1t
suddenly stops, and all is as still as the
| grave, and nothing is TO be seen to indi-
cate the animals presence except the
few holes among the rocks. 1t is the
cry that gives the animal it's name, and
so peculiar is the call that, once heard,
it is never forgotten. 1t is a danger
| signal telling of the approach of an en-
Cmy.
These rodents choose their homer
in the grassy glades of the higher
ranges, commonly known as elk
meadows, which are located close to
the line of perpetual snow. Here they
cXcavate deep burrows of considerable
extent, in which they live, the entrance
in some cases being concealed by a
large boulder or other natural protec-
ton, but oftener being plain to be seen.
| In the selection of their food they are
strictly vegetarian, their chief diet be-
| ing grass and stalks of alpine plant.
A popularity of these animals is that
they spend nearly eight months of each
year in their underground dwellings,
and a considerable part of this time Is
passed in Information. In May the
young, four or six in number are born
| in the burrows, and about the first of
June the parents appear active above
| ground. even if the snow has not yet
gone Off. At first they turn their at
tention to q general housekeeping, and
all the old remnants of grass and other
| food that has been left over from the
last winters supply is thrown out of the
mouth of the burrov. Then comes a
short period of fun and frolic, during
which time the young of the previous
year choose their partners and build, or,
more literally, dig, their homes, for
only one family live together in bur-
row. BY this time the alpine heritage
on which they live is well grown, and
these busy little workers commence to
gather large quantities for winter use.
first carefully drying it in the sun, and
then carrying it INTO their borrows.
Toward the end of September the mar
mots hole up for the winter, which com
menees about that time in the high alti.
tudes at which they dwell. The regions
in which the whistlers live are too high
10 be of use for agricultural purposes,
therefore it is safe to say that they will
never be looked upon as a farm pest
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,