THE AGOUTI. 



577 



where it can find shelter without being forced to run for any considerable distance. 

 When running, it bears some resemblance to the common hare, and, like that animal, 

 is rather apt to overbalance itself when running down hill, and to roll for some yards 

 before it can recover itself. 



All its movements are sharp, quick, and active, and even while sitting upright and 

 engaged in feeding itself by the assistance of its fore-paws, its head is continually be- 

 ing turned from side to side, and its bright eyes glance in every direction, in order to 

 guard against a surprise. As it is a nocturnal animal, and spends the whole of the 

 day in its dark hiding-place, its ravages take place under cover of night, and are the 

 more difficult to be repelled. Its usual resting-place is in the cleft of a rock, or in the 

 hollow of some decaying tree, where twenty or thirty of these animals may be found 

 living amicably together. 



In these dark* recesses the young Agoutis are born, and are laid upon a soft bed of 

 leaves, where they remain for a few weeks, and then sally out with their parents on 

 their nocturnal expeditions. There are generally two broods in each year, and the 

 number of young at a birth is from three to six. 



AGOUTI. Dasyprocta Agouti. 



The Agouti can be readily domesticated, but is in no great favor as a pet, because it 

 is so fond of exercising its sharp teeth upon any article of furniture which may fall in 

 its way, and will in a very few minutes cut its way through an ordinary wooden door. 

 Moreover, it ill repays the trouble which has been taken in taming it, for it seems to 

 lose all its amusing qualities when it is once placed in an inclosure and furnished with 

 regular food. It appears hardly to be capable of distinguishing kindness from cruelty, 

 and displays but little emotion at the presence of the person who brings its daily food. 

 It is naturally a gentle creature, and when captured will not attempt to bite the hand that 

 seizes it, but only gives vent to a piteous squeak as it feels itself made a prisoner. 

 The flesh of the Agouti is white, and good-flavored, and is thought to resemble a mix- 

 ture of the hare and rabbit. In some countries which it inhabits it is commonly eaten, 

 while in others a prejudice prevails against its use as an article of diet. 



The name, Dasyprocta, which has been given to the genus, refers to the thick hair 

 which falls over the hind quarters, and nearly conceals the little pointed stump of a 



