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, 11 
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, an ' appears not again till 
about the beginning of April. The place of its ret it is formed with pre- 
caution, and finished with art. It is rather wide th. n 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 aneasy passage. The other branch, on the contrary, 
slopes upward, and serves them asa 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 then 
_ common retreat. This practice some assign as a reason for the hair being 
generally worn away from their backs. However, another and perhaps a 
setter 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 ap 
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 ot 
whistle, and is himself the last that takes refuge in the cell. 
They make no provision for the winter, foreseeing probably that such a 
