164 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 
scattered to allow plenty of light to enter among them, and they 
provide a particularly appropriate background for the tall birds 
which seem much more graceful in such surroundings than in an 
open paddock. These Cranes, particularly the larger species, 
show remarkable fondness and capacity for digging, and they have 
already turned over all the turf in their fairly spacious range in 
search, probably, for earth-worms or larve. 
The Barbary sheep, a native of the precipitous ranges of the 
Atlas Mountains in Africa, is a very showy animal. It stands about 
3 feet high; the horns are very massive and spread sharply outwards 
from the base, and the throat, chest, and forelimbs are covered witha 
great mass of long hair which gives the animal a formidable appearance. 
Its leaping powers are great, and a ram of the species recently 
cleared in a standing jump a fence, fully 8 feet high, round the 
small yard in which it was confined. 
Two dozen Prairie Marmots provide a welcome new population 
for the squirrel and marmot enclosure in the Park. Eight years 
ago this enclosure was well stocked with Grey Squirrels and also 
contained three or four Prairie Marmots, but they died out, and it 
has not been possible to replace them until now. The Prairie 
Marmot lives in colonies, and the burrows it constructs are remark- 
able for a kind of rampart which is formed about the entrance out 
of the excavated soil. This rampart forms a kind of funnel-shaped 
vestibule to the true burrow, and must, one would imagine, be 
inconvenient in a climate where there is much rain, since it naturally 
collects much more rain than would fall into a simple hole. They 
burrow with great facility; when the new arrivals were turned into 
the enclosure and before they found their bearings, the place seemed 
literally alive with Marmots, but in two or three hours not one 
was to be seen—the whole two dozen having gone to earth. They 
come out to feed chiefly after dark, but are gradually acquiring 
confidence in showing themselves in the daytime.—T. H. G. 
