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THE HOMES OF THE VIZCACHAS 



One of the most curious and interesting of all the dwellers 

 in the pampas of South America is a little fat creature, 

 rather like a large guinea-pig, found from the Eio Negro 

 to the Uruguay, and called the Yizcacha. It is nearly 

 related to the Chinchilla, but does not enjoy mountain 

 life or solitude, and, indeed, prefers to live in a settlement 

 with twenty or thirty companions. 



Like the beaver, the vizcacha is a great builder, and 

 his houses are always made on the same plan. He first 

 of all chooses a level spot, where the soil is neither sand 

 nor gravel, and then digs deep trenches or passages which 

 lead into the inner apartments, the front doors being 

 very large and handsome, often as much as four or five 

 feet wide. At the end is a large round room, and the 

 whole dwelling is in the form of a Y. 



Of course, during the process of building, a great deal 

 of soil has to be thrown out, and the vizcacha, who is 

 very neat and thorough about all he does, erects this 

 into a mound, which serves as a protection to the burrow 

 and prevents it being trampled under foot by the pass- 

 ing cattle, or being washed away by the heavy rains, as 

 often happens to the homes of armadillos and other 

 animals. On the sides of this mound burrowing owls 

 make their nests, and various small birds are to be 

 found that exist (as far as is known) in no other place, 

 while foxes and weasels find it quite a pleasant resi- 

 dence. These vizcacha burrows, or vizcacheras, as they 

 are called, often cover as much as two hundred square 



