1 1 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



is also carnivorous, attacking and devouring rats, mice, 

 birds, lizards, insects and their larvae, and the weaker of 

 their own species. Even the two sexes live in harmony 

 only during the few days of each breeding-season. The 

 hamster fights obstinately, and will jump with equal fury 

 at a waggon- wheel or at a horse if he tread near it ; and 

 when two rival males meet, they engage in a desperate 

 conflict till one retreats or perishes. In these paroxysms 

 of fury the cheek-pouches become distended with air, 

 the animal at the same time blowing and uttering at in- 

 tervals its shrill cry. 



In the construction of its burrows the hamster displays 

 great ingenuity. They are in some respects modified 

 according, to age, sex, and soil ; for each individual 

 has its own exclusive burrow. Each burrow has at least 

 two openings , one descends obliquely, the other per- 

 pendicularly. The former is termed the "creeping- 

 hole," and this is excavated from without, — but the per- 

 pendicular passage, termed the " plunging-hole," is 

 worked out from one of the chambers, that is, from within 

 the subterranean domicile, and is often four feet deep. 

 The distance of these two holes from each other varies 

 from four to ten feet, and between the termination of 

 these two passages are the chambers. The creeping- 

 hole is not in such constant use as the other, and in an 

 inhabited burrow it is regularly found stopped with earth 

 at the distance of about a foot from the mouth. The 

 chambers are more or less oval, and of large size: that 

 nearest the creeping-hole is the smallest, and is well 

 lined with a bed of soft fine straw : it has three openings, 

 one into the creeping-passage, one into the plunging- 

 passage, and one communicating with the store-chambers, 

 of which there are several, at least in the burrows of 

 the old male. Each chamber is filled in the autumn 

 with provisions, and sixty-five pounds of corn or a hun- 

 dredweight of horse-beans have been found in the maga- 

 zines of a single hamster. The burrow of the female 

 has from three or four to eight plunging-holes, all ter- 

 minating in her nest-chamber. Here she produces her 

 litter, from six to eighteen in number. The young are 



