DWELLINGS 1617 



he can not devour at once; a third in which the 

 ferhale brings forth and rears her young. But he 

 does not hesitate to avoid this labor when possible. 

 If he finds a rabbit warren he tries first to eat the 

 inhabitants, and then, his mind cleared from this 

 anxiety, arranges their domicile to his own taste, and 

 comfortably installs himself in it. In South America, 

 again, the Argentine fox frequently takes up per- 

 manent residence in a vizcachera, ejecting the right- 

 ful owners ; he is so quiet and unassuming in his man- 

 ners that the vizcachas become indifferent to his 

 presence, but in spring the female fox will seize on 

 the young vizcachas to feed her own young, and if 

 she has eight or nine, the young of the whole village 

 of vizcachas may be exterminated. 



The badger's dwelling appears to the fox particu- 

 larly enviable. In order to dislodge the proprietor 

 he adopts the following plan: Knowing that the 

 latter can tolerate no ordure near his home, he 

 chooses as a place of retirement one of the passages 

 which lead to the chamber of the peaceful recluse. 

 He insists repeatedly, until at last the badger, in- 

 sulted by this grossness, and suffocated by the odor, 

 decides to move elsewhere and hollow a fresh palace. 

 The fox is only waiting for this, and installs himself. 



The vizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus) is a 

 large rodent inhabiting a vast extent of country in 

 the pampas of La Plata, Patagonia, etc. Unlike 

 most other burrowing species, the vizcacha prefers 

 to work on open level spots. On the great grassy 

 plains it is even able to make its own conditions, like 

 the beaver, and is in this respect, and in its highly 



