152 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



grass for food. In autumn they grow very fat, and are then dug out of the burrows by the 

 mountaineers for food. Young marmots used to be tamed and carried about by the Savoyard 

 boys, but this practice is now rare. The monkey is probably more attractive to the public than 

 the fat and sleepy marmot. Marmots are about the size of a rabbit, and have close iron-gray fur. 



Tschudi, the naturalist of the Alps, says of the marmots that they are the only mammal 

 which inhabits the region of the snows. No other warm-blooded quadrupeds live at such an 

 altitude. In spring, when the lower snows melt, there are generally small pieces of short turf 

 near their holes, as well as great rocks, precipices, and stones. Here they make their burrows, 

 outside which they feed, with a sentinel always posted to warn them of the approach of the eagle 

 or lammergeir. The young marmots, from four to six in number, are born in June. When they 

 first appear at the mouth of the holes, they are bluish gray ; later the fur gains a brownish tint. 

 The burrows are usually at a height of not less than 7,000 or 8,000 feet. Winter comes on 

 apace. By the end of autumn the ground is already covered with snow, and the marmots retire 

 to sleep through the long winter. As they do not become torpid for some time, they require 

 food when there is none accessible ; this they store up in the form of dried grass, which they cut 

 in August, and leave outside their burrows for a time to be turned into hay. 



The ALPINE MARMOT is also found in the Carpathians and the Pyrenees. Another species, 

 the BOBAC, ranges eastward from the German frontier across Poland, Russia, and the steppes of 

 Asia to Kamchatka. In Ladak and Western Tibet a short-tailed species, the HIMALAYAN 

 MARMOT, is found, sometimes living at a height of nearly 17,000 feet. The GOLDEN MARMOT is 

 found in the Pamirs. 



THE BEAVERS. 



The BEAVERS are classed as the last family of the squirrel-like group of the Rodents, and the 

 largest creatures of that order in the northern hemisphere. The value of their fur has caused 

 their destruction in great measure where they were once numerous, and has led to their total 

 extirpation where there is evidence that they existed as a not uncommon animal. They were 

 formerly distributed over the greater part of Europe. In England semi-fossilised remains show 



that they were not uncommon. In 

 Wales beavers' skins were mentioned 

 in the year 940 in the laws of Howel 

 Dha, and in 1188 Giraldus stated that 

 they were living on the river Teify, 

 in Cardiganshire. Beavers were for- 

 merly found in France, especially on 

 the Rhone, where a few are still said 

 to survive, in Germany, Austria, Rus- 

 sia, Poland, and in Sweden, and Nor- 

 way, on the rivers Dwina and Pet- 

 chora, and on the great rivers of 

 Siberia. A few still remain in two 

 districts of Norway, and some were 

 known to frequent the Elbe in 1878. 

 The Moldau, in Bohemia, is also 

 credited with a colony ; but parts of 

 the Danube are believed to be the 



B) ftrmitsion of the New Tori Zoological Society ,-, i 



chief haunt of the European beaver 

 AMERICAN BEAVER at the present time. The American 



The engineering fiat* of the heaven, in damming streams and forming pooh, are the beaver, though its range haS greatly 



J & r 1 -tMi _..e~:~.,4-1-ir Miimpr- 



*nost remarkable achievements performed by li-v : ng animals 



contracted, is still sufficiently numer- 



