THE HAMSTER. 561 
with air at the pleasure of the animal. The length of the adult Hamster is about fifteen 
inches, the tail being only three inches long. 
The Hamster is most destructive to the crops, whether of corn, peas, or beans, and 
when the autumn approaches, begins to plunder the fields in a most systematic manner, 
for the purpose of laying up a winter store of provisions. By dint of dexterous manage- 
ment, the animal fills its cheek-pouches with grain, pressing it firmly with its paws, so as 
to lose no space, and then carries off its plunder to its subterranean treasury, where it 
disgorges the contents of the pouches, and returns for another supply. The husbandmen 
are so well aware of this propensity that they search after the habitation of the Hamster 
after the harvest is over, and often recover considerable quantities of the stolen grain. 
The destructive capability of the animal may be gathered from the fact that a single 
Hamster has been known to hoard no less than sixty pounds of corn in its home, while a 
hundredweight of beans have been recovered from the storehouses of another specimen. 
The skin of the Hamster is of some value in commerce, so that the hunters make a 
double use of a successful chase, for they not only recover the stolen property of the 
agriculturist, but gain some profit by selling the skins, 
HAMSTER.—Cricélus frumentarius. 
The burrow of the Hamster is a most complicated affair, and not very easy to describe. 
Fach individual has a separate burrow, and not even in the breeding season do the male 
and female inhabit the same domicile. At some depth below the surface of the earth are 
several rather large chambers, communicating with each other by horizontal passages. 
In one of these chambers the creature lives, and in the others it places its store of 
provision. There are at least two entrances to each burrow, one being almost perpen- 
dicular, and the other sloping. Sometimes there are more than two entrances to the 
chambers, but there are never less than that number. The depth of the chambers is from 
three to five feet. Each burrow is only intended to serve for one season, and is abandoned 
at the end of winter. 
As the Hamster is in the habit of throwing the excavated earth from the oblique 
burrow, technically called the “creeping-hole,” its locality is discovered by means of the 
mound of loose earth which is heaped at its entrance. ighty thousand of these animals 
have been killed in one year within a single district. 
The Hamster is a very prolific animal, as appears from the fact that it still holds its 
own in spite of the constant persecution to which it is subjected by the agriculturists and 
the regular hunters. There are several broods in each year, the average number of each 
family being from seven to ten or twelve. As soon as the young Hamsters are able to 
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