THE HAMSTER. 561 



with air at the pleasure of the animal. The length of the adult Hamster is about fif- 

 teen inches, the tail being only three inches long. 



The Hamster is most destructive to the crops, whether of corn, peas, or beans, and 

 when the autumn approaches, begins to plunder the fields in a most systematic manner, 

 for the purpose of laying up a winter store of provisions. By dint of dexterous manage- 

 ment, the animal fills its cheek-pouches with grain, pressing it firmly with its paws, so 

 as to lose no space, and then carries off its plunder to its subterranean treasury, where 

 it disgorges the contents of the pouches, and returns for another supply. The husband- 

 men are so well aware of this propensity that they search after the habitation of the 

 Hamster after the harvest is over, and often recover considerable quantities of the 

 stolen grain. The destructive capability of the animal may be gathered from the fact 

 that a single Hamster has been known to hoard no less than sixty pounds of corn in 

 its home, while a hundredweight of beans have been recovered from the storehouses of 

 another specimen. 



The skin of the Hamster is of some value in commerce, so that the hunters make a 

 double use of a successful chase, for they not only recover the stolen property of the 

 agriculturist, but gain some profit by selling the skins. 



HAMSTER. Cricetus frumeatarius. 



The burrow of the Hamster is a most complicated affair, and not very easy to de- 

 scribe. Each individual has a separate burrow, and not even in the breeding season do 

 the male and female inhabit the same domicile. At some depth below the surface of 

 the earth are several rather large chambers, communicating with each other by hori- 

 zontal passages. In one of these chambers the creature lives, and in the others it 

 places its store of provision. There are at least two entrances to each burrow, one 

 being almost perpendicular, and the other sloping. Sometimes there are more than 

 two entrances to the chambers, but there are never less than that number. The depth 

 of the chambers is from three to five feet. Each burrow is only intended to serve for 

 one season, and is abandoned at the end of winter. 



As the Hamster is in the habit of throwing the excavated earth from the oblique 

 burrow, technically called the " creeping-hole," its locality is discovered by means of 

 the mound of loose earth which is heaped at its entrance. Eighty thousand of these 

 animals have been killed in one year within a single district. 



The Hamster is a very prolific animal, as appears from the fact that it still holds its 

 own in spite of the constant persecution to which it is subjected by the agriculturists and 

 the regular hunters. There are several broods in each year, the average number of each 

 family being from seven to ten or twelve. As soon as the young Hamsters are able to 



