Page:Natural History of the Ground Squirrels of California.djvu/101

Rh of a Mountain Coyote (Canis latrans lestes) in the Yosemite National Park. Near Monache Meadows, in the Sierras of eastern Tulare County, one of the writers saw a Mountain Weasel (Mustela arkonensis) in full pursuit of a "Callo" across open ground in the full sunshine of the bright forenoon of August 4, 1911. The squirrel was overtaken by the weasel, and what happened transpired so swiftly that no details were observable. A gunshot terminated the episode, and the "Callo" was found already stone dead, with two tooth-punctures on each side of the nape of its neck.

The Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels hibernate regularly. They doubtless construct warm, dry nests underground, as individuals have been seen gathering soft materials and carrying these to their burrows. In one instance an individual was seen to pick up a piece of brown paper and after tearing it with its teeth and forepaws, stuff it into its cheeks and disappear into a burrow (C. L. Camp, MS). By the last of August these ground squirrels begin to acquire fat, and during September and October they are simply "rolling in butter," as the saying goes. This seems to be in preparation for their long period of dormancy, which extends from the last of October to the middle of April.

Exact dates of going into, and coming out of, their winter sleep are not available to us. But in the Yosemite region in 1915 individuals were seen abroad in the Canadian life-zone commonly up to October 18; on October 30, in the same zone, but two individuals were seen on the same ground where very many were noted a month previously; and none at all were seen on subsequent dates when they were looked for at suitable altitudes. The estimate of April 15 as near the time of reappearance in the spring is based on what we have been told by trappers and forest rangers, and their statements were only from memory.

Since the territory inhabited by the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel is practically altogether above the altitudinal limit of cultivation by man, this species rarely figures as anything worse than a camp-robber or "bummer" (see fig. 20d). We have heard packers complain of its proclivities in the way of carrying off grain or provisions from summer camps in the higher mountains. But the total destruction of property thus wrought can hardly be formidable, and compensating for it to some degree must be counted the added animation lent to the mountain scene by the presence of these pleasing rodents.

Other names.—Sierra Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, part; Yellow-headed Chipmunk, part; Callospermophilus chrysodeirus, part; Spermophilus chrysodeirus, part; Citellus chrysodeirus, part.

Field characters.—Exactly the same as for the Sierra Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, save for pallor of coloration.

Description.—Adult in fresh late-summer pelage: Pattern of coloration and chief features throughout precisely as in the Sierra Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, but general tone of coloration paler; middle of back, rump and sides tending towards