RARE AND UNFAMILIAR ANIMALS 299 



live together, making warrens which are known as viscachera. 

 Earth brought to the surface as a result of excavations made below 

 ground results in raised mounds being formed, and it is interesting 

 to notice that the burrow generally assumes the shape of the letter Y. 

 These burrows are taken advantage of by other animals after evacua- 

 tion, much after the manner of some of our British birds which 

 place their eggs in holes made by rodents in peaty soil, in the north 

 of our island home ; for at least three kinds of birds, including the 

 Burrowing Owl, take possession of the deserted Viscacha burrows. 

 The Viscacha feeds upon herbage, including grass, seeds and roots. 



It is a nocturnal animal, and when observed on the open pampas 

 at or about sunset must present a fine sight to any one interested in 

 the wild life there found. From two to three young ones are born 

 in the early Autumn, and, in spite of the fact that it takes some 

 two years before the young attain the adult state, we learn that 

 previous to the advent of the agriculturist— whose hand is against it 

 because of the harm done to growing crops — this animal was found 

 in numbers so enormous as to be hardly credible to-day, when its 

 ranks have been so greatly reduced. 



PACA. — There seem to be a large proportion of South American 

 animals among the rare and unfamiliar beasts with which we are now 

 concerned, and it is in that part of the world that the curious-looking 

 Paca (Fig. 238) resides. It belongs to the same family as the 

 Agutis next to be described, but is easily distinguished from them 

 by means of the longitudinal rows of light spots which are admirably 

 shown in the illustration, and there are structural differences that 

 need not detain us. 



The Paca is a stouter and more clumsily built animal than the 

 Aguti ; it has shorter limbs ; the head, as will be noticed by a com- 

 parison of Figs. 238, 239 and 240, is much broader, and this is due 

 to the arches of the cheeks being "greatly expanded from above 

 downwards, so as to form huge bony capsules on the sides of the 

 face, each of which encloses a large cavity communicating by a 

 narrow aperture with the mouth." 



The coarse fur varies in colour from fawn to blackish, and the 

 rows of spots which greatly relieve the coat also vary in number. 



The Paca enjoys a wide distribution throughout South America, 

 for although it is a rare beast in Peru and a few other parts, it is a 

 common inhabitant of other portions of the Southern Continent. 



We have here again both a nocturnal and a burrowing animal, 



