AGOUTI.—Dasyprocta, Aguuti 
where it can find shelter without being forced to run for any considerable distance. When 
running, it bears some resemblance to the common hare, and, like that animal, is rather 
apt to overbalance itself when running down hill, and to roll for some yards before it 
can recover itself. 
All its movements are sharp, quick, and active, and even while sitting upright and 
engaged ia feeding itself by the assistance of its fore-paws, its head is continually being 
turned from side to side, and its bright eyes glance in every direction, in order to euard 
against a surprise. As it is a nocturnal animal, and spends the whole of the day in its 
dark hiding-place, its ravages take place under cover of night, and are the more difficult 
to be repelled. Its usual resting-place is in the cleft of a rock, or in the hollow of some 
decaying tree, where twenty or thirty of these animals may be found living amicably 
together. 
In these dark recesses the young Agoutis are born, and are laid upon a soft bed of 
leaves, where they remain for a few weeks, and then sally out with their parents on their 
nocturnal expeditions. There are generally two broods in each year, and the number of 
young at a birth is from three to six. 
The Agouti can be readily domesticated, but is in no great favour as a pet, because it 
is so fond of exercising its sharp teeth upon any article of furniture which may fall in its 
way, and will in a very few minutes cut its way through an ordinary wooden door. 
Moreover, it ill repays the trouble which has been taken in taming it, for it seems to lose 
all its amusing qualities when it is once placed in an inclosure and furnished with 
regular food. It appears hardly to be capable of distinguishing kindness from cruelty, 
and displays but little emotion at the presence of the person who brings its daily food. 
It is naturally a gentle creature,and when captured will not attempt to bite the hand that 
seizes it, but only gives vent to a piteous squeak as it feels itself made a prisoner. The 
flesh of the Agouti is white, and good-flavoured, and is thought to resemble a mixture of 
the hare and rabbit. In some countries which it inhabits it is commonly eaten, while in 
others a prejudice prevails against its use as an article of diet. 
The name, Dasyprocta, which has been given to the genus, refers to the thick hair 
which falls over the hind quarters, and nearly conceals the little pointed stump of a tail. 
1. PP 
