CHINCHILLAS AND VI SC AC HAS. 



173 



Habits. 



The viscacha is by far the most common rodent on the Argentine 

 pampas ; and an excellent account of its habits is given by Mr. W. 

 H. Hudson, from which the following summary is compiled. These animals live 

 in societies usually numbering from twenty to thirty individuals; they form 

 warrens known as viscachera, each of which may contain from twelve to fifteen 

 burrows, some of them being double or triple. Such a viscachera will cover 

 from one to two hundred square feet of ground. The burrows vary much in 

 extent ; some opening out into wide chambers, from which other tunnels radiate ; 

 while others communicate with their neighbours. The whole viscachera forms a 

 raised mound of earth which has been brought up from the burrows. It is always 

 formed on the open plains ; and the entrances to some of the compound burrows 



THE VISCACHA (| nat. size). 



are sometimes as much as a yard in diameter. Usually the burrow takes the form 

 of the letter Y. A passerine bird (Geositta) belonging to the wood-hewer family, 

 makes its breeding-holes in the sides of the viscacha-burrows ; while when deserted 

 by their rightful owners they are occupied by a kind of swallow (Atticora). 

 Moreover, on the mound of the viscachera may frequently be observed a pair of 

 burrowing owls (Speotito), which generally excavate a domicile for themselves, but 

 sometimes occupy one of the burrows on the flanks of the mound. The whole of 

 the ground in the neighbourhood of the burrows is carefully cleaned from all 

 vegetation, the refuse of which is heaped up near the entrance ; and it is this 

 habit which renders these animals so obnoxious to the farmer. Their usual food 

 is grass and seeds, but they sometimes also eat roots ; while in the dry season they 

 are reduced to withered grass and thistles. When the herbage is green the 

 viscachas require no water ; but the first shower in the dry season brings them at 

 once out of their holes to imbibe the much-needed fluid. 



