CHINCHILLAS AND VISCACHAS 1347 



mound of the viscachera may frequently be observed a pair of burrowing owls 

 (Speofito), which generally excavate a domicile for themselves, but sometimes oc- 

 cupy one of the burrows on the flanks of the mound. The whole of the ground in 

 the neighborhood of the burrows is carefully cleaned from all vegetation, the refuse 

 of which is heaped up near the entrance, and it is this habit which renders these 

 animals so obnoxious to the farmer. Their usual food is grass and seeds, but they 

 sometimes also eat roots; while in the dry season they are reduced to withered 

 grass and thistles. When the herbage is green the viscachas require no water; but 

 the first shower in the dry season brings them at once out of their holes to imbibe 

 the much-needed fluid. 



Viscachas are essentially nocturnal. Mr. Hudson states that in winter they 

 "seldom leave their burrows till dark, but in summer come out before sunset, and 

 the viscachera is then a truly interesting spectacle. Usually one of the old males 

 first appears, and sits on some prominent place on the mound, apparently in no 

 haste to begin his evening meal. When approached from the front he stirs not, but 

 eyes the intruder with a bold indifferent stare. If the person passes to one side, he 

 deigns not to turn his head. Other viscachas soon begin to appear, each one quietly 

 taking up his station at his burrow's mouth, the females, known by their 

 greatly inferior size and lighter gray color, sitting upright on their haunches, 

 as if to command a better view, and indicating by divers sounds and gestures 

 that fear and curiosity struggle in them for the mastery. With eyes fixed on the 

 intruder, at intervals they dodge the head, emitting at the same time an internal 

 note with great vehemence; and suddenly, as the danger comes nearer, they plunge 

 simultaneously, with a startled cry, into their burrows." When driven to the re- 

 cesses of their burrows they utter a peculiar kind of growling sound. 



The viscacha is a far from prolific animal, the female producing in September 

 a single litter, which usually contains two, but occasionally three young. As the 

 animal takes about two years in reaching maturity, the vast numbers in which it 

 existed on the pampas, previous to a war of extermination waged against it by the 

 agriculturists, is not a little remarkable. 



The habit of accumulating the remains of its food around the entrance of its 

 burrow has been already mentioned; but, in addition, the viscacha collects every 

 hard object with which it meets. Darwin writes that "around each group of holes 

 many bones of cattle, stones, thistle stalks, hard clumps of earth, etc., are collected 

 into a heap, which frequently amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow would con- 

 tain. I was credibly informed that a gentleman, when riding one dark night, 

 dropped his watch; he returned in the morning, and by searching in the neighbor- 

 hood of every viscacha hole on the line of road, as he expected, soon found it. 



Remains belonging to the same genus as the viscacha are met with 

 in the superficial deposits of South America; while in the older forma- 

 tions there occur those of allied extinct genera. One of these extinct Rodents 

 {Megamys) was the largest member of the order; its size approaching that of 

 an ox. 



