THE COMMON HAMSTER. 345 



on its way by an enemy, the hamster, not being able to fight 

 while loaded, empties its pouches by quickly striking them 

 with its fore-paws, and then is ready for battle. Its movements 

 in fighting are so violent and heavy, that they often miss their 

 object. With the single exception of its living in peace with 

 the female for only a few days in each breeding season, the 

 hamster may be said to be constantly at war with every 

 living creature or moving object which happens to come near 

 it. It will jump with equal fury at a waggon-wheel or at 

 a horse travelling along a road, and a young hamster will 

 sometimes do so as well as an old one. Horses have now and 

 then been so frightened by its screams and bites in the dusk 

 of the evening, as to run away. From men or dogs it will 

 usually, though not always, try to escape ; it then takes the 

 nearest course to its burrow, from which it is seldom far 

 distant. When its pouches are full, it always takes to its heels 

 at first, and if its burrow be only twenty or thirty yards off, 

 it tries to reach it with its cargo, but never fails to pop its 

 head out of the hole, screaming furiously in defiance. If the 

 burrow be further off, it tries to get a little a-head of its pursuer, 

 to obtain time to empty its pouches j whereupon it stands up 

 and faces its enemy, puffing out its pouches, squeaking, scream- 

 ing, and jumping against him to the height of from one to 

 two feet. When he retreats a little, the hamster hops after 

 him like a frog. At such times the animal is quite intoxicated 

 with fury, caring for no wounds, and fighting till death. Old 

 hamsters do not usually retreat before man, when sitting near 

 their burrows with their pouches empty. At such times, I 

 have killed several. Dogs are very eager to destroy the 

 hamster, but never devour it. They prove, I believe, in many 

 neighbourhoods, great preventives to the hamsters multiplying 

 to an injurious extent. Some breeds, as pointers and large 

 terriers, soon acquire a knack of killing them at one bite, by 

 catching them by the middle of the chest j but when the 

 animals are better matched, the combat is protracted, and the 

 hamster often succeeds in gaining its burrow, after repeatedly 

 beating back the dog. This obstinacy in fighting, in spite of 



