138 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



which they excavate, but so superficially, that they are 

 apt to give way beneath the foot of a person passing over 

 them, no less to his annoyance than that of the animal, 

 which thus suddenly finds itself in open daylight. These 

 burrows have, as it is asserted, three openings, which the 

 animal conceals with dry leaves and branches. In order 

 to capture the paca alive, the hunter stops two of these 

 apertures, and proceeds to work at the third, till he 

 arrives at the chamber to which the avenues lead. Driven 

 to an extremity, the paca makes a desperate resistance, 

 often inflicting very severe wounds. 



When not disturbed, the paca often sits up and washes 

 its head and whiskers with its two fore-paws, which it 

 licks and moistens with its saliva at each ablution, like a 

 cat ; and with these fore-paws, as well as with the hind 

 ones, it often scratches itself and dresses its fur. Though 

 heavy and corpulent, it can run with a good deal of ac- 

 tivity, and often takes lively jumps. It swims and dives 

 with great adroitness, and its cry resembles the grunting 

 of a young pig. Its food consists of fruits and tender 

 plants, which it seeks in the night, hardly ever quitting 

 its burrow in the day, the strong light of which, as is 

 the case with other nocturnal animals, is oppressive to 

 its eye : the planter often rues the visits made by these 

 midnight foragers to his sugar-canes. The female is said 

 to bring forth at the rainy season, and to produce but a 

 single young one, which stays a long time with the mo- 

 ther. The pacas are very cleanly creatures in all their 

 habits, and keep their subterranean dwelling in a state 

 of the utmost purity. 



It appears that these animals root in the ground with 

 their nose — a circumstance which, taken in conjunction 

 with their voice, a pig-like grunt, the bristly character 

 of their hair, and the flavour of their flesh, probably gave 

 rise, as Mr. Bennett observes, to the comparisons made 

 by the older writers between them and the tenant of the 

 sty. Those which we have seen in captivity were gentle, 

 but certainly not intelligent ; and so far we agree with 

 M. F. Cuvier, who observes that, when the animal is 

 ofl'ended, it throws itself violently at the object which 



