118 COMMUNITIES. 



displayed by such small and pudgy bodies. They live 

 in communities like good citizens, each one displaying 

 a great regard for the safety and lives of his fellows. 

 On hearing the slightest unfamiliar or suspicious 

 sound, warning is communicated at once to all of 

 their race within hearing ; and if one is shot, the 

 last act of its life a purpose that even the pa- 

 roxysms of death do not prevent is to dive head- 

 foremost into the nearest burrow, where, if incapable 

 of further progress, it is lugged off by its fellows 

 into some of the numerous deeply excavated pass- 

 ages. In their wild state they will, if captured, 

 bite and scratch with unconquerable ferocity ; but 

 if obtained young, they are easily tamed, and become 

 rather stupid pets, with little more to make them 

 attractive than a guinea-pig. Their food consists 

 entirely of vegetable substances, and it has always 

 been a matter of wonder how they manage to 

 procure sufficient for such large colonies as are 

 occasionally to be found, the population appearing 

 to confine themselves strictly within the limits of 

 the surface broken by their burrows. 



Although I have never witnessed guard-mount- 

 ing among these curious little animals, such a 

 ceremony very possibly takes place underground, 

 for sentries are scattered at regular intervals all 

 over their works, and faithfully these miniature 

 soldiers perform their duty. As the Americans 

 would express it, 'they are all there/ And so 

 watchful are they, that it is almost impossible for 



