nn: n i i/.s/v 



purpot* of laying up a winter store of provisions. 1U dint of dexterous management the 



animal tills it, , 1,,,-k jH.uches with grain, pressing it firmly with its paws, so as to lose no 

 spa.-,, and the., carries ,,ff its plunder to its M.l.terninean treasu. N . w here it diswm th- .- 

 t. -nt, of tl,,- p..u,-h.-s. and n-tunis f,, r another s,i,,,,|y. The husbandmen are so well aware of 

 this |,n,|..|ixity that they search after the habitation of the HainMer after the harvest is over 

 and often recover ,-,,nsid,-ral.|e quantities of the .stolen grain. The destruflttw capal-ility of 

 ''" :i " i: "-'' " ; -> '" -:.!..!.,! from the fact 1 1 t :i Miigl. HainsN - : us !-. n known I., lioiird no 

 le than MMV pounds of corn iu its home, while a hundred weight of U-ans have been reoov- 



MI th.- storehouses of another specimen. 



Th- >ivin of the Han.xi, .,- i, <,f M.me value in commerce, so that the hunters make a double 

 use of a successful chase, for they not only recover the stolen |,i-,,,H.m of the agriculturist 

 but ir.iin son,.- piofit l.y s.'!!!!!!: the skins. 



Tlie burrow of the Hamster is a most complicated affair, and not very easy to describe. 



-h in.lividual has a separate burrow, and not even in the breeding season do the male and 

 female inhabit the same domicile. At some depth below the surface of the earth are several 

 nither large chambers, communicating with each other by horizontal passages. In one of these 

 chambers the creature lives, and in the others it places its store of provision. There are at 

 least two entrances to each burrow, one being almost j>erj>endicular, and the other sloping. 

 Sometimes there are more than two entrances to the rhainl>ers. hut then- an- in. r less than 

 that number. The depth of the chambers is from three to five feet Each burrow is only 

 intended to serve for one season, and is abandoned at the end of winter. 



As the Hamster is in the habit of throwing the excavated earth from the oblique burrow, 

 technically called the "creeping-hole," its locality is discovered by means of the mound of 

 loose earth which is heaped at its entrance. Eighty thousand of these animals have been 

 killed in one year within a single district 



The Hamster is a very prolili. animal, as appears from the fact that it still holds its own 

 in spite of the constant persecution to which it is subjected by the agriculturists and the 

 regular hunters. There are several broods in each year, the average numU'rof each family 

 being from seven to ten or twelve. As soon as the young Hamsters are able to shift for them- 



