MAMMALIA— MARMOT. 245 



ears. The color of its hair on the back is reddish brown. On the belly it 

 is reddish, but softer and shorter. Its voice resembles that of a little dog, 

 when it is played with or caressed ; but when it is irritated or frightened, it 

 raises a loud and shrill cry, highly offensive to the ear. The marmot is a 

 very cleanly animal. In autumn, particularly, it is loaded with fat, though 

 all the parts of the body are never equally so. The marmot would be tolera- 

 ble food, did it not constantly retain somewhat of a disagreeable smell. 



This animal, which delights in the regions of ice and snow, and is never 

 found but on the highest mountains, is, nevertheless, most liable to be be- 

 numbed by the cold. From the end of September, or the beginning of 

 October, the marmot generally retires to its hole, and appears not again till 

 about the beginning of April. The place of its retreat is formed with pre- 

 caution, and finished with art. It is rather wide than long, and very deep, 

 so that it is capable of containing several, without being under a necessity 

 of crowding each other, or injuring the air they breathe. Their feet and 

 claws are formed as if they were designed to dig ; and, in fact, they bur- 

 row into the ground with amazing celerity, scraping up the earth, and 

 throwing back what they have loosened behind them constantly as they pro- 

 ceed. Still more wonderful is the form of their hole ; it resembles the letter 

 Y, the two branches having each an opening that conducts into one channel, 

 which terminates in their general apartment at the bottom. As the whole 

 is contrived on the declivity of a mountain, there is no part of it on a level 

 but the apartment at the end. One of the branches, or openings, issues out 

 sloping downward ; and this serves as a kind of sink, or drain, for the whole 

 family, in which they void their excrements, and through which the mois- 

 ture of the place finds an easy passage. The other branch, on the contrary, 

 slopes upward, and serves them as a door to go in and out. The apartment 

 at the end is warmly lined with moss and hay. It is even asserted, that 

 this is a public work ; that some cut the finest grass, others pile it up, and 

 others take their turns to convey it to the hole. Upon this occasion, it is 

 added, one of them lies upon its back, permits the hay to be heaped upon 

 its belly, keeps its paws upright to make greater room, and in this manner, 

 remaining still upon its back, is dragged by the tail, hay and all, to their 

 common retreat. This practice some assign as a reason for the hair being 

 generally worn away from their backs. However, another and perhaps a 

 better reason may be given for this appearance ; namely, their inhabiting 

 cells under ground, and being constantly employed in digging up the earth. 

 Whenever they venture abroad, one is placed as a sentinel, sitting on an 

 elevated rock, while the others amuse themselves in the fields below, or are 

 employed in cutting grass, and making it into hay for their future conveni- 

 ence ; and no sooner does their trusty sentinel perceive a man, an eagle, a 

 dog, or any other enemy, than he gives notice to the rest by a kind of 

 whistle, and is himself the last that takes refuge in the cell. 



They make no provision for the winter, foreseeing probably that such a 



