18/2.] HABITS OF THE VIZCACHA. 827 



subtle creature ; and it is not to be wondered at that it becomes wild 

 to excess and rare in regions hunted over by such an enemy, even 

 when all other conditions are favourable to its increase. But as soon 

 as these wild regions are settled by Man, the Lions are exterminated, 

 and the sole remaining foe of the Vizcacha is the Fox, comparatively 

 an insignificant one. 



The Fox takes up his residence in a vizcachera, and succeeds, after 

 some quarrelling (manifested in snarls, growls, and other subterra- 

 nean warlike sounds), in ejecting the rightful owners of one of the 

 burrows, which forthwith becomes his. Certainly the Vizcachas are 

 not much injured by being compelled to relinquish the use of one of 

 their kennels for a season ; for, if the locality suits him, the Fox re- 

 mains with them all winter. Soon they grow accustomed to the un- 

 welcome stranger ; he is quiet and unassuming in demeanour, and 

 often in the evening sits on the mound in their company, until they 

 regard him with the same indifference they do the Burrowing Owl. 

 But in spring, when the young Vizcachas are large enough to leave 

 their cells, then the Fox makes them his prey ; and if it is a bitch 

 Fox, with a family of eight or nine young to provide for, she will 

 grow so bold as to hunt her helpless quarry from hole to hole, and 

 do battle with the old ones, and carry off the young in spite of them, 

 so that all the young animals in the village are eventually destroyed. 

 Often when the young Foxes are large enough to follow their mother, 

 the whole family takes leave of the vizcachera where such cruel 

 havoc has been made, and settle in another, there to continue their 

 depredations. But the Fox has ever a relentless foe in Man, and 

 meets with no end of bitter persecutions ; it is consequently much 

 more abundant in desert or thinly settled districts than in such as 

 are populous, so that in these the check the Vizcachas receive from 

 the Foxes is not appreciable. 



The abundance of cattle on the pampas has made it unnecessary to 

 use the Vizcacha as an article of food. His skin is of no value ; there- 

 fore Man, the destroyer of his enemies, has hitherto been the greatest 

 benefactor of his species. Thus they have been permitted to multiply 

 and spread themselves to an amazing extent, so that the half-domestic 

 cattle on the pampas are not nearly so familiar with Man or so fearless 

 of his presence as are the Vizcachas. It is not that they do him no 

 injury, but because they do it indirectly, that they have so long 

 enjoyed immunity from persecution. It is amusing to see the grain- 

 farmer, the greatest sufferer from the Vizcachas, regarding them with 

 such indifference as to permit them to swarm on his "run," and 

 burrow within a stone's throw of his dwelling with impunity, and yet 

 going a distance from home to persecute with unreasonable animosity 

 a Fox, Skunk, or other fierce creature. From the latter the loss he 

 sustains in a twelvemonth's time is perhaps a dozen chickens and twice 



that popular works on natural history go on eternally repeating, there is one 

 that deserves a distinguished place for its absurdity ; and that is, that the South- 

 American Lion is the most cowardly of all animals, so that a woman or a child 

 may put it to flight. 



