The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-03
THE PRAIRIE DOG.

There is little pet though some
deem it past. of the Western States
which is but little known by the resi-
dents of the East, except as seen in the
museums, where it is known as the
prairie-dog. This is not the only name
by which the queer little rodent goes,
for his earliest name, given him by the
Indians. is Wish ton wish. Whatever it
means, Wish ton.wish is probably net
so misleading as prairie dog. for the lit
tie fellow has not even the most remote
connection or relationship with the ca
nine species.
The so called prairie-dog is in reality
a species of rat, although it bears near.
external resemblance to the common
squirrel, with which, however, it has 10
relationship. 1t is decidedly Western
animal, and has never of its own accord
migrated east Of the Mississippi River.
Subsisting as it does upon insects.
plants and grasses, its towns or colonies
are usually far removed from human
habitations. Yet we must not infer that
it is unsocial in disposition, or that it
readily gives way to the encroachments
of civilization. Quite the contrary; for
as the course of empire wends westward
and man begins to turn the sod of the
prairies, the little prairie-dog seems in
clined to meet him half way. While the
buffalo. the deer, the antelope, and even
the game birds of the West have stead
lily been retreating farther and farther
toward the setting sun, the course of the
prairie-dog for the last decade has been
eastward. and we find the advance
guards Of these little rodents and their
outposts of settlement 10 localities where
they we're formerly unknown.
The prairie-dog is about twelve or
fourteen inches in length; its head is
not unlike that of the squirrel, but it's
tail, which is about five inches long, is
not so bushy as the squirrels. 1t always
lives in communities, whose domiciles
are holes in the ground, around the en-.
trance to which they heap a small conf.
cal mound of earth, and on these you
may see them, sitting up like trick dogs,
barking welcome in their peculiar way
to the passers by. They are as quick in
movement as cat, and it is almost i'm.
possible to kill one of them by an ordin-
airy gunshot. Some think they are in
vulnerable and cannot be killed, but this
idea is myth. One reason of the diff
Guilty in bagging them is that, even when
severely wounded, instinct prompts
them to wriggle back into their holes,
and die, if die they must, at home. AS
soon as one is pierced by bullet, it con-
trives. by convulsive movements, which
are we'll directed even in its agony, to
drop from sight into it's hole, so that
specimen is rarely secured by shoot
ing.
AS their "dog towns" are out on the
broad prairies, and are frequently far
from streams. they display unusual sa
gacity in obtaining water. Each town
has we'll. which goes down from the
surface and is not unlike their home re-
treats, even to the conical mound at the
entrance, save that one usually sees
gravel and sand at the entrance to the
we'll. Often one colony consists of as
many as ten thousand dogs. and contains
half as many separate homes, each house
being connected with the town we'll by
an underground passage.
They are quite harmless little crea-
lures, and all the damage they do is to
deprive the stockman of much valua BILE
range, for their propensity to gnaw the
grass roots has tendency to leave the
surrounding country as bare and smooth
as billiard table. But they are happy
little fellows. and make very interesting
pets; and the prairie-dog. little wish
ton-wish," has found place in the
hearts of the Western people.-Our An
intal Friends.