536 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HAMSTER. 



ing from one chamber to the other are likewise filled with 

 corn, &c. The corn and other seeds are collected at random, 

 as they present themselves most conveniently during the 

 nightly rambles of the hamster. If the chambers are found 

 filled with a particular kind of seed each, this is merely acci- 

 dental. Thus sometimes summer corn is found in one cham- 

 ber, and winter corn in another, but a hamster whose burrow 

 happens to be in a winter field of rye, wheat, &c, will first 

 collect of this, and after the field has been reaped, he will be 

 obliged to resort to some other field, where the harvest is 

 still standing. Often rye, wheat, peas, vetches, flax-husks, 

 &c, are all, or partly, found mixed together in the same 

 chamber. Sometimes, below these store-rooms others are 

 found, into which the seeds have been transported when they 

 have begun to germinate. I need therefore scarcely say that 

 the hamster does not show any sense of order in collecting, 

 nor does he bite out the germ or corculum of the seeds, to 

 prevent them from germinating, as has been advanced. The 

 burrow where the female has her young, differs in some es- 

 sential points. It has but one creeping, but often as many 

 as eight plunging-holes, distributed over a space of 8 or 10 

 feet in diameter. These plunging-holes all terminate in 

 the nest-chamber, and such a burrow is generally abandoned 

 as soon as the mother drives her young away from her. The 

 young dig, during the first months of their independance, 

 burrows only two feet deep, in which there is but one nest 

 and one store -chamber, the latter containing but 4 or 5 lbs. of 

 seeds, and which have but one creeping and one plunging- 

 hole. The young of the first litter, which propagate the 

 same season, dig larger burrows in autumn, and all interme- 

 diate sizes between the largest and smallest may then be 

 found. The depth of the burrows is determined by the nature 

 of the soil and the seasons. Those in stony and strong land 

 are less deep than those in loose, rich mould. Those con- 

 structed in spring, when no corn is collected, are compara- 

 tively shallow. The later in the season the deeper they are 

 constructed, and the winter-burrows often descend to the 

 depth of six or seven feet. 



(To be continued.) 



