118 PAMPAS. LCHAP. vn. 



the plain which during one-half of the year are covered with giant 

 thistles, to the exclusion of other plants. The Gauchos affirm that 

 it lives on roots; which, from the great strength of its gnawing 

 teeth, and the kind of places frequented by it, seems probable. In 

 the evening the bizcachas come out in numbers, and quietly sit at 

 the mouths of their burrows on their haunches. At such times 

 they are very tame, and a man on horseback passing by seems 

 only to present an object for their grave contemplation. They 

 run very awkwardly, and when running out of danger, from their 

 elevated tails and short front legs, much resemble great rats. 

 Their flesh, when cooked, is very white and good, but it is seldom 

 used. 



The bizcacha has one very singular habit; namely, dragging 

 every hard object to the mouth of its burrow : around each group 

 of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard lumps 

 of earth, dry dung, etc., are collected into an irregular heap, which 

 frequently amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow would contain. 

 I was credibly informed that a gentleman, when riding on a dark 

 night, dropped his watch; he returned in the morning, and by 

 searching the neighbourhood of every bizcacha hole on the line 

 of road, as he expected, he soon found it. This habit of picking 

 up whatever may be lying on the ground anywhere near its 

 habitation, must cost much trouble. For what purpose it is done, 

 I am quite unable to form even the most remote conjecture: it 

 cannot be for defence, because the rubbish is chiefly placed above 

 the mouth of the burrow, which enters the ground at a very small 

 inclination. No doubt there must exist some good reason ; but the 

 inhabitants of the country are quite ignorant of it. The only fact 

 which I know analogous to it, is the habit of that extraordinary 

 Australian bird, the Calodera maculata, which makes an elegant 

 vaulted passage of twigs for playing in, and which collects near 

 the spot, land and sea-shells, bones, and the feathers of birds, 

 especially brightly coloured ones. Mr. Gould, who has described 

 these facts, informs me, that the natives, when they lose any hard 

 object, search the playing passages, and he has known a tobacco- 

 pipe thus recovered. 



The little owl (Athene cunicularia), which has been so often 

 mentioned, on the plains of Buenos Ayres exclusively inhabits the 

 holes of the bizcacha ; but in Banda Oriental it is its own workman. 

 During the open day, but more especially in the evening, these 



