Biography of the Vizcacha. 293 
founder of a new community; for they increase 
very slowly, and furthermore are extremely fond of 
each other’s society; and it is invariably one 
individual that leaves his native village to found a 
new and independent one. If it were to have 
better pasture at hand, then he would certainly 
remove to a considerable distance ; but he merely 
goes from forty to fifty or sixty yards off to begin 
his work. Thus it is that in desert places, where 
these animals are rare, a solitary vizcachera is never 
seen; but there are always several close together, 
though there may be no others on the surrounding 
plain for leagues. When the vizcacha has made his 
habitation, it is but a single burrow, with only 
himself for an inhabitant, perhaps for many months. 
Sooner or later, however, others jom him: and 
these will be the parents of imnumerable genera- 
tions ; for they construct no temporary lodging- 
place, as do the armadillos and other species, but 
their posterity continues in the quiet possession of 
the habitations bequeathed to it; how long, it is 
impossible to say. Old men who have lived all 
their lives in one district remember that many of 
the vizcacheras around them existed when they 
were children. It is invariably a male that begins 
a new village, and makes his burrow in the following 
manner, though he does not always observe the 
same method. He works very straight into the 
earth, digging a hole twelve or fourteen inches wide, 
but not so deep, at an angle of about 25° with the 
surface. But after he has progressed inwards a 
few feet, the vizcacha is no longer satisfied with 
merely scattering away the loose earth he fetches 
