356 ITS HABITS. 



far without coming to the surface, and beginning 

 a new one. Like a skilful workman, he knows 

 how to economise labour. Having to* back the 

 earth out of the mouth of the hole he is digging, 

 the farther he gets in the harder grows the toil ; 

 and so he digs up through, and starts afresh, 

 They seldom come out in the daytime, and I have 

 but rarely heard them whistle until everything 

 was still, and the twilight merged into night. 



The female has from four to six young at a 

 birth, and she has about two litters in a year. 

 The nest for the young is much like that of the 

 rabbit, made of grass and leaves, and placed at 

 the end of a deep burrow. In the winter they 

 only partially hybernate, frequently digging 

 through the snow to eat the bark and lichen from 

 the trees. Their gait when on the ground is 

 very awkward; their broad short feet are not 

 litted for progression, and they shamble rather 

 than run, and can be easily overtaken. Where a 

 colony of them have resided for any time, the 

 ground becomes literally riddled with holes, and 

 the trees and shrubs die for want of roots. I 

 imagine, from having found abandoned villages, 

 that they wisely emigrate when their resources 

 are exhausted. The Indians esteem their flesh a 

 great luxury, and trap them in a kind of figure-of- 



