246 MAMMALIA—MARMOT. 
precaution would be useless. But when they perceive the first approaches 
of the season, in which their vital motions are to continue in some measure 
suspended, they labor very diligently to close up the apertures of their dwel- 
lings, which they effect with such solidity, that it is more easy to open the 
earth any where else, than where they have closed it. They are at that 
time very fat, and some of them are found to weigh twenty pounds. In 
this plight they continue for three months longer ; but by degrees their flesh 
begins to waste, and they are quite thin by the end of winter. When their 
retreat is discovered, they are found each rolled into a ball, and covered 
with hay. In this state they seem entirely lifeless; they may be taken 
away, and even killed, vithout their testifying any sense of pain ; and those 
who find them in this aanner carry home the fat ones for food, and the: 
young ones for breeding up and taming. The marmot produces but once a < 
year, and the litter generally consists of three or four. Their growth is 
quick, and they live only nine or ten years. They are found in the Alps, 
Apennines, Pyrenees, in the highest mountains of Germany, in Poland, and 
in America, with some variations. 
When taken young, the marmot is more capable of being tamed than any 
other wild animal. It will easily learn to perform feats with a stick, to 
dance, and in every thing to obey the voice of its master. It has a great 
antipathy to the dog; and when it becomes familiar in a house, and is sure 
of being supported by its master, it will, in his presence, attack the largest 
dogs, and boldly fasten upon them with its teeth. Though this creature is 
not quite so large as a hare, it is yet of a more squat make, and has great 
strength joined to great agility. It has four teeth in the front of the jaw, 
which are long and strong enough to inflict a terrible wound; and yet, 
unless provoked to it, it neither attacks ddgs, nor does mischief to any 
creature whatever. If care be not taken, however, it will gnaw the furni- 
ture of a house, and will even make holes through wooden partitions. 
As the marmot has very short thighs, and the toes of its paws are formed 
like those of the bear, so it often sits erect, and walks with ease, like that 
animal, upon its hind feet. With its fore paws it carries its food to its 
mouth, and eats in an upright posture like the squirrel. It runs. much 
swifter up hill than down; it climbs trees, and runs up the clefts of rocks 
or the contiguous walls of houses, with much facility; so much so, indeed, 
that it is ludicrously observed of the Savoyards, who are the general 
chimney-sweepers of Paris, that they have learned their trade from the 
marmot. 
These animals eat indiscriminately of whatever is given them, whether it 
be flesh, bread, fruits, herbs, roots, pulse, or insects. Of milk and butter, 
however, they are particularly fond; and, though less inclined to petty 
therts than the cat, tey are yet never better pleased than when they obtain 
access to the dairy. 
