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1893 V. Bailey Prairie Ground Squirrels 32 The little Striped Spermophile..is seen standing upright on its hind feet, straight and motionless as a stick... At a little distance it is impossible to distinguish it from an old picket pin or tent stake.]

1901 E. T. Seton Lives of Hunted 214 The darling ambition of his life..was to catch one of the Picket-pin Gophers... These little animals have a trick of sitting bolt upright on their hind legs, with their paws held close in, so that at a distance they look exactly like picket-pins.

1947 V. H. Cahalane Mammals N. Amer. 342 They spend a great deal of time sitting straight up on their haunches, their backs and necks as straight as ramrods. For this reason they are often called ‘picket pins’.

1980 J. O. Whitaker Audubon Soc. Field Guide N. Amer. Mammals 371 Ground squirrels, prairie dogs, the Woodchuck, and marmots are all sometimes called ‘picket pins’ because of the way they sit bolt upright to survey their domain.

2002 Canad. Geogr. (Nexis) Aug. 40 He saw a continuous duel between these little ‘picket-pins’ and a cunning predator that employs stealth and surprise to catch its watchful prey.