190 ANIMALS OF THE 



foot of the perpendicular hole the animal makes 

 two more, where are deposited the family's pro- 

 visions. These are much more spacious than the 

 former, and are large in proportion to the quan- 

 tity of the store. Beside these, there is still 

 another apartment warmly lined with grass and 

 straw, where the female brings forth her young : 

 all these communicate with each other, and all 

 together take up a space of ten or twelve feet in 

 diameter. These animals furnish their store- 

 houses with dry corn well cleaned ; they also lay 

 in corn in the ear, and beans and peas in the 

 pod. These, when occasion requires, they after- 

 wards separate, carrying out the pods and empty 

 ears by their oblique passage. They usually be- 

 gin to lay in at the latter end of August j and, 

 as each magazine is filled, they carefully cover 

 up the mouth with earth, and that so neatly that 

 it is no easy matter to discover where the earth 

 has been removed. The only means of finding 

 out their retreats are, therefore, to observe' the 

 oblique entrance, which generally has a small 

 quantity of earth before it ; and this, though of- 

 ten several yards from their perpendicular retreat, 

 leads those who are skilled in the search to make 

 the discovery. Many German peasants are known 

 to make a livelihood by finding out and bringing 

 off their hoards, which in a fruitful season often 

 furnish two bushels of good grain in each apart- 

 ment. 



Like most others of the rat kind, they pro- 

 duce twice or thrice a-year, and bring five or six 

 at a time. Some years they appear in alarming 



