246 MAMMALIA— MARMOT. 



precaution would be useless. But when they perceive the first approaches 

 of the season, in which their vital motions are to continue in some measure 

 suspended, they labor very diligently to close up the apertures of their dwel- 

 lings, which they effect with such solidity, that it is more easy to open the 

 earth any where else, than where they have closed it. They are at that 

 time very fat, and some of them are found to weigh twenty pounds. In 

 this plight they continue for three months longer ; but by degrees their flesh 

 begins to waste, and they are quite thin by the end of winter. When their 

 retreat is discovered, they are found each tolled into a ball, and covered 

 with hay. In this state they seem entirely lifeless ; they may be taken 

 away, and even killed, vithout their testifying any sense of pain ; and those 

 who find them in this aanner carry home the fat ones for food, and the 

 young ones for breeding up and taming. The marmot produces but once a 

 year, and the litter generally consists of three or four. Their growth is 

 quick, and they live only nine or ten years. They are found in the Alps, 

 Apennines, Pyrenees, in the highest mountains of Germany, in Poland, and 

 in America, with some variations. 



When taken young, the marmot is more capable of being tamed than any 

 other wild animal. It will easily learn to perform feats with a stick, to 

 dance, and in every thing to obey the voice of its master. It has a great 

 antipathy to the dog ; and when it becomes familiar in a house, and is sure 

 of being supported by its master, it will, in his presence, attack the largest 

 dogs, and boldly fasten upon them with its teeth. Though this creature is 

 not quite so large as a hare, it is yet of a more squat make, and has great 

 strength joined to great agility. It has four teeth in the front of the jaw, 

 which are long and strong enough to inflict a terrible wound ; and yet, 

 unless provoked to it, it neither attacks dogs, nor does mischief to any 

 creature whatever. If care be not taken, however, it will gnaw the furni- 

 ture of a house, and will even make holes through wooden partitions. 



As the marmot has very short thighs, and the toes of its paws are formed 

 like those of the bear, so it often sits erect, and walks with ease, like that 

 animal, upon its hind feet. With its fore paws it carries its food to its 

 mouth, and eats in an upright posture like the squirrel. It runs much 

 swifter up hill than down ; it climbs trees, and runs up the clefts of rocks, 

 or the contiguous walls of houses, with much facility ; so much so, indeed, 

 that it is ludicrously observed of the Savoyards, who are the general 

 chimney-sweepers of Paris, that they have learned their trade from the 

 marmot. 



These animals eat indiscriminately of whatever is given them, whether it 

 be flesh, bread, fruits, herbs, roots, pulse, or insects. Of milk and butter, 

 however, they are particularly fond; and, though less inclined to petty 

 thefts than the cat, tiey are yet never better pleased than when they obtain 

 access to the dairy. 



