ABOUT THE MARMOT. 53 



the lower limit of the perpetual snows. Is it the only mammal 

 which can live at such a height ? 



THE MARMOT. 



Who, in the wide world of London, where so many waifs 

 and strays are drifting with the great current of human life, 

 has not observed the Savoyard wanderer with his dancing 

 marmot? If the man did not attract our notice, his curious 

 companion would. In form he belongs partly to the bear, 

 and partly to the rat. Naturalists have, therefore, expressly 

 created for him the genus Arctomys, a Latinised Greek name, 

 signifying " The Bear-Rat." 



In fact, the marmot resembles Harlequin's cloak, or rather, 

 if it be permissible to compare little things with great, the 

 Austrian Empire, a composite of territories and races; and 

 Buffon has described him very aptly. He has, he says, 

 the nose, the lips, and the shape of the head of the hare; 

 the hair and nails of the badger ; the teeth of the beaver ; the 

 cat's whiskers ; the eyes of the dormouse ; the feet of the bear, 

 with a short tail and truncated ears. 



Add to this that the marmot he is a little larger than a 

 rabbit is omnivorous like man and the bear, with whom he 

 shares his aptitude for dance and sport. While he eats any 

 and everything, he nevertheless prefers vegetable food to all 

 other kinds ; and with his orange-coloured incisors gnaws the 

 bark of shrubs. He rarely drinks, but when he does drink 

 takes a hearty draught ; is particularly fond of milk ; drinks it 

 by raising his head at each mouthful, like a hen, and giving 



