Bailey, V: Revision of the Pocket Gophers of the Genus Thomo

Excerpt from Revision of the Pocket Gophers of the Genus ThomomysPocket. Gophers of the genus Thomomys are burrowing animals which spend most of their lives underground. The several species have practically the same habits except as modified by environment. They are sturdy little miners, drifting their tunnels on and on in search of food, throwing out little heaps of earth along the lines of excavation, and then quickly closing the doorway. The tunnels vary from about 6 inches to a feet below the surface, and from about 15 to 13 inches in diameter, according to the size of the gopher. The length of the tunnels is practically interminable and their course varies from a winding network to long direct lines.The character of the burrows is determined by the food supply. A row of potatoes may be, followed across a field, or the spreading roots of an apple tree may hold the attention of the gopher for some time. If food is scarce the rows of mounds reach in direct lines for long distances, but when it is abundant they wind back and forth within a limited area. While the males move about more freely at the beginning of the breeding season and there are indications of rare migrations, pocket gophers are evidently the most restricted in their habitat of any of our native mammals. Even moles, which live more completely underground, burrow more rapidly and travel more widely. The whole summer's line of hills of one gopher can often be'secn at a glance. The animals rarely leave an alfalfa or potato field, but hurry across waste places. Under ordinary circumstances; however, a gopher often spends a year on a single acre, and perhaps the next year on an adjoining one. Most gophers probably never get 40 rods from where they were born, but where environment is less favorable and the gopher is more active, he may extend his tunnels for half a mile or possibly a mile during his career.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.