472 THE SIBERIAN JEKBOA. 



they are taken by surprise. The Arabs have the art 

 of catching them ahve, by stopping up the outlets 

 to the different galleries belonging to the colony ; 

 one excepted, through which they force them out *. 



Though animals of a very chilly nature, they keep 

 within their holes in the day, and wander about only 

 during the night. They hrst come out at sun-set, 

 and clear their holes of their filth ; and they remain 

 abroad till the sun has drav,'n up the dews from the 

 earth t. 



They walk only on their hind legs, tlie fore-legs 

 being very short ; and, on the approach of any dan- 

 ger, they immediately take to flight, in leaps six pr 

 seven feet high, which they repeat so swiftly that a 

 man mounted on a good horse can scarcely overtake 

 them. They do not proceed in a straight line ; but 

 run first to one side, and then to the other, till they 

 find either their own burrow, or some neighbouring 

 one. In leaping, they bear their tails (which are 

 longer than their bodies) stretched out. In stand- 

 ing or walking, they carry them in the form of an 

 S ; the lower part touching the ground, so that it 

 seems a director of their motions. When surprised, 

 they will sometimes go on all-fours ; but they soon 

 recover their attitude of standing on their hind-legs, 

 like a bird. When undisturbed, they use the former 

 posture; then rise erect, listen, and hep about like 

 a crow. In digging or eating, they drop on their 



* Sonnini, i. \02. 

 t Sonnini cb-erves, that, as far as he could Icarn, the contrary is 

 the case ; and that thcu' principal time of being abroad is during the 

 dav. 



