373 



THE RODENTS OR GNAWING ANIMALS. 



whether or not everything is quiet and safe, and for 

 some time stay near their holes, before they set out 

 in search of food. 

 Physical Pecul- The movements of the Viscachas re- 

 iarities of the semble those of Rabbits; but they 

 Viscacha. are much their inferiors in speed, 

 though they are of a more vivacious and playful dis- 

 position. While grazing they play with one another 

 nearly all the time, running, jumping over each 

 other, grunting, showing their teeth, etc. Like 

 Jackals, they carry home the most heterogeneous 

 collection of objects they may find and pile them up 

 in front of their holes in a confused heap, like toys, 

 as it were. One finds bones and nests, and lost 

 articles, which certainly are not of the slightest use 

 to them, piled up before their holes, and when the 

 Gauchos mysteriously lose anything they go to the 

 nearest Viscacherias to look for the missing article. 



The Viscacha an The Viscacha is pursued less on 

 Annoyance to account of the value of its flesh and 

 Man. sj^in than it is for the purpose of ex- 



termination because of its annoying habits of bur- 

 rowing. In those places where it is common, riding 

 on horseback becomes extremely dangerous, be- 

 cause the Horses often plunge through the roofs 

 of its shallow tunnels, and if they do not fall and 

 throw their riders or break their own legs they 

 usually become very restive and greatly excited 

 over it. The natives know the haunts of the Vis- 

 cachas from afar by the presence of a small, wild, 

 bitter musk-melon, of which the animals are said to 

 be very fond. This plant is always found where 

 there are many Viscacherias or vice versa — the lat- 

 ter are always established where the plants spread 

 their green tendrils. In this way it serves as a guide 

 and warning for the horseman to avoid the danger- 

 ous places. 



All expedients for driv- 

 ing the Viscachas from 

 the neighborhood of set- 

 tlements are resorted to, 

 and even fire and water, 

 literally, are employed 

 for this purpose. The 

 grass around their holes 

 is burned and they are 

 thereby deprived of 

 nourishment; their holes 

 are inundated and they 

 are forced to go out, 

 straight into the jaws of 

 the waiting Dogs. 



The South American 

 Indians eat the flesh of 

 the animal, and may also 

 put the skins to account, 

 though the latter are of 

 much less value than 

 those of the before men- 

 tioned kindred species. 



£be Ibarea. 



THIRTEENTH FAHILY: 



LEPORIDjE. 



CUVIEE'S LAGOTI. This member of the Chinchilla family is about the size of a Rabbit, but has along 



bushy tail, long whiskers that Fuss might envy, and very long ears. It is a denizen of the mountains and is there- 

 fore here correctly depicted among the boulders of its native Cordilleras. {Lagidium cuvieri.) 



From the interior of the burrows, however, the ani- 

 mals remove anything not belonging there, as they 

 also do the dead bodies of their own kind. Whether 

 they gather and store up provisions for winter has 

 not yet been decided. Their method of vocal ex- 

 pression consists of a queer, loud and disagreeable 

 snort or grunt, which can not be described. 

 Propagation of Nothing definite is as yet known 

 the Vis- about the method of their reproduc- 

 cacha. tion. The number of young is said 



to be from two to four in each litter, and they are 

 believed to be fully grown at the age of from two to 

 four months. Goering never saw more than a single 

 young one with one of the old females. It always 

 kept in the closest proximity to its mother, which 

 seemed to be very fond of it and defended it in 

 danger. If the young are captured and carefully 

 tended, they become tame and may be kept as 

 .easily as Rabbits 



As the last family of 

 this order we consider 

 the Hares {Leporidce), a 

 family with characteristics so distinctive that one 

 might regard it as a sub-order. 



They are the only Rodents which have more than 

 two front teeth; for the sharp, broad gnawing teeth 

 have on each side a true incisor, shaped like a small, 

 blunt, nearly quadrilateral peg. This gives the denti- 

 tion so peculiar a stamp as to isolate the Hares com- 

 pletely. Each side of both jaws also contains five 

 or six molars, composed of two laminae. The gen- 

 eral distinctive anatomical characteristics of the 

 Hares are: an elongated body with long hinder legs, 

 a long skull with large eyes and long ears, five-toed 

 fore-feet and four-toed hind-feet, thick, deeply cleft 

 and highly mobile lips, furnished with stout whisk- 

 ers on both sides, and a close, nearly woolly fur. 



Extensive The family embraces few species, 



Distribution of but is distributed over a great ex- 



Hares. tent of country. In the Australian 



belt alone the Hares would be absent were it not for 



