354 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



have elapsed, and then frequently standing motionless 

 on the look-out for a still longer period. Their food 

 consists of the roots and leaves of various Alpine plants, 

 which, like squirrels, they lift to their mouths with their 

 fore-paws. For their winter quarters they make a large 

 round burrow, with but one entrance, and ending in a 

 sleeping place thickly lined with hay. Here from ten to 

 fifteen marmots will often pass the winter, all lying closely 

 packed together, fast asleep, until the spring." 



The marmots are first cousins to the rodents most 

 remarkable for their attractiveness. We recollect that 

 one day when we were in the smoking-room of the 

 Hotel d'Angleterre at Rome, a discussion took place as to 

 what was the most beautiful object in Nature. There 

 were several exclamations of '' a woman ! a woman ! " But 

 a gentleman from Chicago said, with much deliberation, 

 *'Wal, I should say a squirrel! ' Squirrels are the 

 animals we now refer to, and they are to be found in all 

 the warm and temperate regions of the globe, save 

 Australia and Madagascar. They are most abundant in 

 the Malayan region, where is to be found the giant of the 

 group — the two-coloured squirrel — which is almost as 

 large as a cat, In Borneo, on the other hand, there is 

 one as small as a mouse. The European common squirrel 

 ranges from Ireland to Japan, and from Italy to Lapland. 

 There are altogether about seventy-five species of true 

 squiiTels, whereof fifteen are found in America. Flying 

 squirrels, which are creatures formed like flying 

 phalangers,* have the skin of the sides and flanks 

 of the body extensible, and so capable of acting like a 

 parachute. There are more than twenty-five kinds of 

 them, yet only one species — but a most charming little 

 one — is found in North America. 



* See ante, p. 46. 



