CHAPTER II 

 EXCAVATORS AND MINERS 



MAMMALS 



A national industry Notable diggers A neglected genius The var- 

 nished tale Too clever by half An underground fortress How it is 

 made A strange nest The bolt run Accident or intention ? Build- 

 ing on the ruins The fox's home Unscrupulous strategy Arctic 

 foxes Frozen meat The badger's den A retiring disposition The 

 hamster's dwelling Living-room and store-room A tell-tale land- 

 mark Entrance and exit Well-filled granaries Harvesting 

 Emergency doors Early independence Pocket-gophers A rare dis- 

 tinctionConvenient locomotion Filling the pockets and emptying 

 them An interesting scene Pariah dogs Slinking through life 

 The fascinating fennec Prairie-marmots " Dog-town " An animal 

 Utopia Winter sleep Sounding the alarm Animal gossip 

 Marmots Summer and winter quarters Laying in supplies A 

 picturesque fiction Our old familiar friend. 



OF all animal dwellings, those which are hollowed out 

 of the earth are perhaps the most numerous, and we 

 find them, of one sort or another, made by members 

 of almost every branch of the animal kingdom. 



The Mammalia in particular are notable excavators; 

 digging is, indeed, their national industry, as nest-building 

 is that of birds. 



The Mole (Talpa Europcea) is perhaps the most expert of 

 all burrowing animals, and its whole structure is beautifully 

 adapted to its mode of life. Its snout is tough and pointed, 

 and it has broad, powerful fore-paws armed with claws of 

 great strength, by means of which it makes its way through 



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