The Washington herald., 1911-07-16

the same kind of ground, yet never found
a track Of one in the mud beyond where
the grass grew.
Last summer we had a raid. of rabbits
beyond conception. They were so bold
they would come In before sundown. Our
bitches had the only water for miles, but
never a enc could be seen drinking. !
was irrigating sixty acres alone and was
up at daylight and on the ground again
till dark when rabbits by the dozen
were trying to get at the alfalfa, but for
the three months OF extreme heat the
rabbits poured In on us from the dry
hills never saw one touch the water.
The cottontail Is so rare on the dryer
parts of the desert that It is difficult
to say with exactness what he does not
do. But some thirty years ago, on the
road from San Diego to FL Cajon, some
twelve miles, one could count a thous-
and most any morning or evening in
making the trip by wagon. Most of 1t
was miles from any spring, and at the
spring never could a cottontail be seen
drinking. There. VS. plenty of cactus,
but I never saw one touch It, and in
places 1t would have been eaten of in a
week :: they had eaten It. With this
exception there was practically no green
feed in summer or fall except the chap
parel bushes, which they did not eat
so far as one could see. All Old settlers
can remember the same thing in hun
dreds of places.
How the Chipmunks Live.
On the desert the life of the chip
munk is quite as remarkable as that
Of the hare. There are two kinds
where live. both very active, and IN
going from the house to the gate at the
ditch to turn on water see a dozen or
so almost every time go all summer.
Yet I never saw one at the water,
though It is the Only water they can get
for miles. And as I go back and forth
late at night, and sometimes before day
light. and never see one moving. even
on moonlight nights. 1t is fair to pre-
sumo that they do not go TO water at
night. 1t is probable that in seven years
I would have seen at least one moving
II they did.
They live in holes in the ground in
which they must bake almost as badly
as the hare under the bush. Their range
is very limited, probably not over 100
yards from the hole. I never saw one
run that far before he ran into the
ground. Generally the distance is less
than 100 feet. In most places one can see
positively that they do not get any kind
OF green feed.
I cannot even discover that they eat
alfalfa, though they sometimes go into
It. They eat young grain, but live main
Iy on seeds, most Of which are dry In
many places IT is hard to see where
they even get seeds. They are found
fat and frisky miles away from any
cultivated ground, and where there is
nothing but little dry grass and grease
wood, on which latter there is no mark
Of any teeth. And instead of retiring
to the shade of bush when the sun is
hottest, that seems the time when they
10 the most scampering about.
The same thing can be noticed with !
the big ground squirrel on the coast side !
,f the mountains. ard people have tried
10 explain it by saying they dig down |
10 water. I have seen places there |
where It was over 100 feet that they |
would have to dig. but here chipmunks |
ire abundant in places where they would |
nave to go three to ten times that depth !
70 find even moist earth.