In order to bring them out we poured into one of the holes five barrels of water without filling it, but we dislodged and caught the owner.

After digging down another of the holes for six feet, we found, on running a pole into it, that we had not yet dug half-way to the bottom: we discovered, however, two frogs in the hole, and near it we killed a dark rattlesnake, which had swallowed a small prairie dog.
We were also informed, though we never witnessed the fact, that a sort of lizard and a snake live habitually with these animals.

The petit chien are justly named, as they resemble a small dog in some particulars, although they have also some points of similarity to the squirrel.

The head resembles the squirrel in every respect, except that the ear is shorter; the tail like that of the ground squirrel; the toe nails are long, the fur is fine, and the long hair is gray." Great confusion has been caused in the minds of readers on account of there being another burrowing animal, called by Lewis and Clark "the burrowing squirrel," which resembles the petit chien in some respects.
But the little animal described here is now well known as the prairie-dog,--an unfortunate and misleading name.

It is in no sense a species of dog.