THE RODENTS, OR GNAWING ANIMALS 157 



Photo L~ A. S. Rutland & Sons 



LONG-EARED JERBOA 



These curious little animals are mainly desert creatures. They move by 

 a series of leaps 



These creatures have cheek-pouches to 

 aid them in carrying food. In addition 

 they are most voracious and inquisitive, 

 so that the hamster is a type throughout 

 Central Europe of selfishness and greed. 

 We are sorry to add that John Bull 

 occasionally appears in German cartoons 

 as the " Land-hamster," or land-grabber. 

 Hamsters are numerous from the Elbe 

 to the Obi. They burrow and make 

 cellars in the corn- and bean-fields, and 

 convey thither as much as a bushel of 

 grain. As soon as the young hamsters 

 can shift for themselves, each moves off, 

 makes a separate burrow, and begins to 

 hoard beans and corn. As the litter 

 sometimes contains eighteen young, the 

 mischief done by the hamster is great. 

 Its coloration is peculiar. The fur, which 

 is so thick as to be used for the linings 

 of coats, is a light yellowish brown 

 above. A yellow spot marks each cheek. The lower surface of the body, the legs, and a band 

 on the forehead are black, and the feet white. Thus the hamster reverses the usual natural 

 order of colour in mammals, which tends to be dark on the back and light below. The animal 

 is 10 inches long, and very courageous. Hamsters have been known to seize a horse by the 

 nose which stepped on their burrow, and at all times they are ready to defend their home. 

 Besides vegetables and corn, they destroy smaller animals. They spend the winter in a more 

 or less torpid state in their burrows, but emerge early in spring. They then make their summer 

 burrows and produce their young, which in a fortnight after birth are able to begin to make a 

 burrow for themselves. 



Among the South American members of the group to which the hamster belongs are the 

 FISH ? EATING RATS, with webbed hind feet. The RICE-RAT, which is found from the United States 

 to Ecuador, lives on the Texas 

 prairies much as do the prairie- 

 marmots, though its burrows 

 are not so extensive, and often 

 quite shallow. In these the 

 rats make beds of dry grass. 



THE VOLES. 



The VOLES are allied to 

 the preceding groups, but are 

 marked externally by a shorter 

 and heavier form than the 

 typical rats and mice. Their 

 ears are shorter, their noses 

 blunter, their eyes smaller, 

 and the tail generally shorter. 

 They are found in great num- 

 bers at certain seasons, when 



SBBBH 



Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons 



CAPE JUMPING-HARE 



This animal is -very common in South Africa. The Boers call it the " Springbaas ' 



