Part 14 (1/2)

SUCH NEAT CHAMBERMAIDS!

The prairie-dogs like sandy or gravelly soil for their ho And besides they supply this sarass that they use for bedding They're very particular about changing their beds every day; always clearing out the old bedding and putting in new They do this along about sundown You can see the colony of them at the zoo

[Illustration: THIS MUST BE A PLEASANT DAY

In nice weather the Prairie Dog's front door stands wide open like this, but before a rain he stuffs it tight with grass because, when it _does_ rain in the arid regions where he lives, it co is about a foot long and as fat as butter The reason he's called a dog isn't because he is a dog or even looks like one, but because he has a sharp little bark like a verysuspicious: ”Yap! Yap!”

Or he spies a neighbor down the street: ”Yap! Yap! hello, neighbor!

Looks like another fine day, doesn't it?”

”Yap! Yap!” says neighbor (This ”yap” passes for ”yes,” no doubt--although it isn't quite the way Mr Webster would say it, perhaps)

Then hbor from away over on the avenue, that he hasn't seen for sohborly little chaps Then it's:

”Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Why, how _are_ you? And what have you been doing?

And how are the little folks?”

And so it goes, all day long

The prairie-dog's native home is on our Western plains, but he has a cousin away off in South Ah he may never have heard of hireat grassy plains of the La Plata in colonies of twenty or e pit-like entrances grouped close together; so close, in fact, that the whole village ular mound, thirty to forty feet in dia on the level prairie, the viscachas are careful to build theh so that floods will not reach the this these little people seem to have two purposes: (1) To make it more difficult for enemies to slip up on them unnoticed, and (2) to furnish a kind of athletic field for the community; for it is in these open spaces that they have their foot-races, wrestling matches, and the like

If you ever happen down their way, the first thing that will strike you is the enormous size of the entrances to the central burrows You'd think so as a bear lived in theh for a tall s, the viscachas are very sociable, and little paths, the result of neighborly calls, lead frohborly indeed; and in the Bible sense Of course, they like to get together of an evening and talk things over and gossip and all that, but that isn't the end of it To take an instance: These South As up North, are not popular with the cattlees with earth Then neighbors froo away--and dig them out!

[Illustration: MR P GOPHER AS THE MASTER PLOUGHMAN

Thohman of the West,” and this is how he illustrates the extent of his labors]

Another plough and the viscacha, who isn't popular with farhopher He has farh the fertile Mississippi Valley The reason he has that queer expression on his face--you couldn't help noticing it--is that each cheek has a big outside pocket in it; and, like the big pockets in a small boy's trousers, they're there for business On each forefoot he has a set of long claws; and dig, you should see hiular little steam-shovel He sinks his burrow below the frost-line and into this, stuffed in his two pockets, he carries food to eat when he wakes up during the following Spring, before earth's harvests are ripe

[Illustration: POCKETS OF THE POCKET-MOUSE]

IV THE HOME OF THE RED FOX

Another country gentleht be, but whose people, in the course of the ages, have done a good deal of ploughing, is Brer Fox I ray fox usually lives in hollow trees or in ready- the rocks of the mountainside

THE THREE ROOMS IN THE FOX HOUSE

The red fox is the cunningest of his tribe One of the ways he shows his cunning--and also his lack of conscience, in dealings outside the fox fa a hoer, for exaes the place to suit his own needs For Mr Fox's residence is quite an affair Usually it has three roo on which is going --stops and looks about to see if the coast is clear; back of that the storeroom for food, and behind this the fa the thriftiest folks I know They not only provide for to-day, but for to-morrow and the day after For example, when Mr Fox visits a poultry-yard, he doesn't si and carrying off chickens, ducks, or geese--whatever co clear up to daybreak