MARMOT. 169 



double portion of long hair, which protects them from cold, 

 and other assaults of the weather. 



Of the quadrupeds that make or choose habitations for them- 

 selves, some dig holes in the earth, some take refuge in the 

 cavities of decayed trees, and in the clefts of rocks, and some 

 actually construct cabins or houses. But the artifices they 

 employ, the materials they use, and the situations they select, 

 are so various and so numerous, that our plan necessarily 

 limits us to a few of the more curious examples. 



The Alpine Marmot is a quadruped about sixteen inches in 

 length, and has a short tail. In figure, the marmots have 

 some resemblance both to the rat and to the bear. When 

 tamed, they eat every thing presented to them, as flesh, bread, 

 fruit, roots, pot-herbs, insects, &c. They delight in the re- 

 gions of frost and of snow, and are only to be found on the 

 tops of the highest mountains. These animals remain in a 

 torpid state during winter. About the end of September, or 

 the beginning of October, .they retire into their holes, and 

 never come abroad again till the beginning of April. Their 

 retreats are formed with much art and precaution. With their 

 feet and claws, which are admirably adapted to the purpose, 

 they dig the earth with amazing quickness, and throw it behind 

 them. They do not make a simple hole, or a straight or wind- 

 ing tube, but a kind of gallery in the form of a Y, each branch 

 of which has an aperture, and both terminate in a capacious 

 apartment. As the whole operation is performed on the de- 

 clivity of a mountain, this innermost apartment alone is hori- 

 zontal. Both branches of the Y are inclined. One of the 

 branches descends under the apartment, and follows the de- 

 clivity of the mountain. This branch is a kind of aqueduct, 

 and receives and carries off the filth of their habitations ; and 

 the other, which rises above the principal apartment, is used 

 for coming in and going out. The place of their abode is 

 well lined with moss and hay, of which they lay up great store 

 during the summer. They are social animals. Several of 

 them live together, and work in common when forming their 

 habitations. Thither they retire during rain, or upon the ap- 

 proach of danger. One of them stands sentinel upon a rock, 

 while the others gambol upon the grass, or' are employed in 

 cutting it, in order to make hay. If the sentinel perceives a 

 man, an eagle, a dog, or other dangerous animal, he alarms 

 his companions by a loud whistle, and is himself the last that 

 enters the hole. They continue torpid during the winter, and, 

 as if they foresaw that they would then have no occasion for 

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