St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-03-07
the poucnep GOPHER.
fhs -Carsous Little Aninal With H0a
Pockets In which 0e Stores Foe4

fhe -Curs~us Little AnlMal With Huge
Poekess In which as STORES FoeA
He IL = shy, quiet. thrifty chap. the
gopher. and the passing traveller
through the New Mexican plains In
variably bestows ON him an admiaSng
and interested glance. The cclorS OF
his coat are warm, soft, but neutral.
with the grays and duns OF
the dry, scant herbage and the in
sands. In such , land .
brighter coat would mean . short life.
A score Of enemies lie in wait for Broth
er Gopher and only his dull garb rem
ders his foraging expeditions among
the sage brush and potato hillocks at
all safe. The keen-eyed hawk floating
high In the air above the gopher scans
tho brown sands and sees no prey.
Were the little digger's back one tinge
darker the bird wouId be upon him be-
fore he could finish gnawing that tooth
some root.
He has great use for those queer
pouches of his. Ground nuts. roots, po-
tatoes and seed pods furnish "Geomys.
as the book-worms call the gopher,
with . good living. In the capacious
pouches which hang from his mouth
to his shoulder he can carry an in
credibly large load. Finding = fertile
potato hill or . clump of heavy-laden
cookie burrs he proceeds to carry the
food with all possible speed to numer-
Gus storehouses under ground. Not
until all the provender in sight has been
secured will Mr.. Gopher eat = single
morsel. There il thrift for you.
And he does not carry sand or dirt
in those pretty pockets, ~ most OF the
stories about him Incorrectly state.
He has no need to do 20 as IN inspec-
ton Of his burrowing operations will
disclose.
He humps his little back and rest
ing partly ON his tail. partly ON his
hind feet and with his front Paws he
fairly makes the earth fly. Every few
moments he will drop on his front feet
and with his hind ones will kick the
accumulated debris out behind him.
When q fair pile IS collected he wheels
about, places his front paws under the
mound and showing with his sturdy
hind legs comes putting up out Of his
burrow like . tiny steam excavator.
In . few hours he can dig long and
very winding burrow, and II he en-
counters stones or roots he either un-
dermines or gnaws through the OBJ
struction however big. He never aban-
dons his line Of excavation ON account
Of unforeseen difficulties
The pretty fellows make very
charming pets and very clean!y ones
but fight nearly all the time. Acquisi-
tiveness and . keen instinct Of prop
erty rights make frequent disputes
Unless the cage be very large one
the stronger ones will soon kill the
weaker by force or starve them tc
death. One win find the Others hidden
store and appropriate~it. II taken in
the theft fight IL inevitable and even
II not badly injured the defeated gopher
seems to take NO Joy In life when hia
property II thus lost. Pockets In ami
mails as in men seem to indicate re.
alization Of meus and tuul fhsep parable
from . train Of accompanying woes
Envy, jealousy, worry. freud. fear
greed and suspicioD lalmost'unknowr
to savages and TO f6uch1eis tfcAt1Fes
make the gophers' lves very turbulent
And in common with. human. society
they suffer from that most iletestable
Of thieves. the pickpockstaN. y
World. -,