328 THE ALPINE MARMOT. 



wooden partitions. It will eat indiscriminately of flesh, butter, 

 insects, herbs, roots, fruits, pulse, and bread. It seldom drinks 

 water, milk being the only liquid it likes, and to obtain this 

 it will steal into a dairy and lap it up. Like a tea-totaller, it 

 refuses the juice of the grape, " the merry cheerer of the heart." 

 When pleased or caressed it often yelps like a puppy j but when 

 irritated or frightened, it utters a loud and piercing whistle. 



The Savoyards, who dig the marmots out of the earth when 

 in their torpid state, eat their flesh, which is firm and tender ; 

 but, being very fat, and having a disagreeable flavour, it is said 

 that it occasionally produces vomiting. They therefore remove 

 the fat, which they esteem as medicinal, and then salt and dry 

 the lean, as if they were preparing bacon. The skin being very 

 furry is a valuable article. 



MOUSE, OR RAT KIND. 



These animals may be briefly characterized by having a 

 long and scaly tail, and three molar teeth, the largest of which 

 (the anterior one) has its crown divided into blunt tubercles, 

 which, by being worn, give it the shape of a disk, sloped in 

 various directions. From their great fecundity they are mostly 

 exceedingly numerous wherever they are found, and prove 

 highly injurious, as they gnaw and devour almost every article 

 of food, apparel, and furniture. 



THE COMMON MOUSE. (Mus musculus, Linn.) 



The length of the common mouse, best known as an inha- 

 bitant of our houses, though many keep to the fields, is three 

 inches and two lines from the head to the end of the body, or 

 including the tail, six inches and one line. Its fur is brownish 



