128 Mr. Ogilby on certain Australian Quadrupeds, 



municating the intelligence of any strange or uncommon event to distant tribes 

 by raising dense columns of smoke in different directions over the face of the 

 country, and we fancied that these were their rude telegraphs, kept ready for 

 immediate use when an occasion occurred to require it. A more minute exa- 

 mination, however, soon convinced us of our error ; we found, in fact, that 

 the materials were not thrown promiscuously together, as would naturally 

 have been the case had they been collected by the natives for the purpose of 

 burning, but that each stick and fragment was so curiously intertwined and 

 woven with the rest, that the whole formed a solid compact mass, so firmly 

 bound together, that it was absolutely impossible to remove a part without at 

 the same time moving the whole fabric. Our kangaroo dogs also drew our 

 attention more particularly to the examination of these curious structures, by 

 the constant ardour which they displayed in barking and scratching when- 

 ever we fell in with them, thus manifestly intimating that they expected to 

 find something inside. At length we broke several of them open, a work of 

 no small difficulty from the solidity of their structure, and were not a little 

 surprised to find in the interior a small nest occupied by an animal something 

 between a rabbit and a rat, which had constructed this formidable and mas- 

 sive stronghold to protect itself against the attacks of the native dog. For 

 this purpose the little animal chooses some small bush or shrub, as a fixed 

 point d'appui to commence its opei-ations ; and by gradually working round 

 this, and interlacing the materials of its fortalice, first of all with the growing 

 branches of the centre bush, and afterwards with one another, gradually ex- 

 tends it to the enormous dimensions already specified, and enjoys the reward 

 of its perseverance and ingenuity in subsequent security and repose. This 

 little animal has ears exactly resembling those of a small rabbit, soft, downy 

 wool, and short hind legs, and, but for the tail, might readily pass for a small 

 rabbit." 



Something of this constructive faculty is observed among the Squirrels and 

 Tamias, but in neither of these genera is it developed so perfectly as in the 

 Conilurus. Mr. Say, indeed, relates that the Tamia quadrivitlata makes a 

 nest of the " burrs of Xanthium, portions of the upright Cactus, small branches 

 of pine trees, and other vegetable productions, sufficient in some instances to 

 fill a cart," but these do not appear to be artificially woven together, as in the 



