1872.] HABITS OF THE VIZCACHA. 823 



always to fix upon some spot where there is a bank or a sudden de- 

 pression in the soil, or where there is rank herbage, or a bush or tree, 

 about the roots of which to begin their kennel. They are averse to 

 commence digging on a clean and level surface, either because it is 

 not easy for them where they have nothing to rest their foreheads 

 against while scratching, or because they possess a wary instinct that 

 impels them to place the body in concealment whilst working on the 

 surface, thus securing the concealment of the burrow after it is made. 

 Certain it is that where large hedges have been planted on the pam- 

 pas, multitudes of Opossums, Weazels, Skunks, Armadillos, &c. come 

 and make their burrows beneath them ; and where there are no 

 hedges or trees, all these species make their kennels under bushes of 

 the perennial thistle, or where there is a shelter of some kind. The 

 Vizcacha, on the contrary, chooses an open level spot, the cleanest 

 he can find to burrow on. The first thing that strikes the observer 

 when viewing the vizcachera closely is the enormous size of the en- 

 trance of the burrows, or, at least, of several of the central ones in 

 the mound ; for there are usually several smaller outside burrows. 

 The pit-like opening to some of these principal burrows is often 4 to 

 6 feet across the mouth, and sometimes deep enough for a tall man 

 to stand up waist-deep in. How these large entrances can be made on 

 a level surface may be seen when the first burrow or burrows of an 

 incipient vizcachera are formed. It is not possible to tell what in- 

 duces a Vizcacha to be the founder of a new community ; for they 

 increase very slowly, and furthermore are extremely fond of eacb 

 other's society; and it is invariably one individual that leaves his 

 native burrows to make a new and independent one. If it were to 

 have better pasture at hand, then he would certainly remove to a 

 considerable distance ; but he merely goes from 15 to 50 or 60 yards 

 off to begin his work. Thus it is that in desert places, where these 

 animals are rare, a solitary vizcachera is never seen ; but there are 

 always several close together, though there may be no others on the 

 surrounding plain for leagues. When the Vizcacha has made his 

 habitation, it is but a single burrow, with only himself for an inha- 

 bitant, perhaps for many months. Sooner or later, however, others 

 join him : and these will be the parents of innumerable generations ; 

 for they construct no temporary lodging-place, as do the Armadillos 

 and other species, but their posterity continues in the quiet posses- 

 sion of the habitations bequeathed to it; how long, it is impossible 

 to say. Old men who have lived all their lives in one district remem- 

 ber that many of the vizcacheras around them existed when they 

 were children. It is invariably a male that begins a new village, and 

 makes his burrow in the following manner, though he does not 

 always observe the same method. He works very straight into the 

 earth, digging a hole 12 or 14 inches wide, but not so deep, at an 

 angle of about 25° with the surface. But after he has progressed 

 inwards a few feet, the Vizcacha is no longer satisfied with merely 

 scattering away the loose earth he fetches up, but cleans it away so 

 far in a straight line from the entrance, and scratches so much on this 

 line (apparently to make the slope gentler), that he soon forms a 



