112 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



the same, but each colony prefers providing a domicile for 

 itself. These retreats are not in general more than from 

 six inches to a foot from the surface ; but the pregnant 

 females will sometimes deepen the excavation to upwards 

 of two feet by a very small alley or aperture, which, after 

 several sinuosities, terminates in an excavation about as big 

 as a fist, furnished with a soft bed of roots, fyc. for the 

 accommodation of the young. 



These animals are found all over Europe, nor does the 

 low temperature prevent their inhabiting the uncultivated 

 country in the North of Russia ; they are found in Siberia. 

 They are migratory animals, and like others of a similar 

 description, are not stopped in their journeys, even by deep 

 or rapid rivers. 



The Economic Campagnol is rendered highly interesting 

 by Dr. Pallas's amusing description of its habits, which we 

 shall abridge in the language of Shaw, referring to the 

 Table for its specific characters. 



These little animals make their burrows with wonderful 

 skill immediately below the surface in soft turfy soils, form- 

 ing a chamber of a fiattish arched form, of a small height, 

 and about a foot in diameter, to which they sometimes add 

 as many as thirty small pipes or entrances, and near the 

 chamber they frequently form other caverns, in which they 

 deposit their winter stores ; these are said to consist of 

 various kinds of plants, even of some species which are 

 poisonous to mankind. They gather them in summer, har- 

 vest them with great care, and even sometimes bring them 

 out of their cells in order to give them a more thorough 

 drying in the sun. The chief labour rests on the females ; 

 the males during the summer wandering about in a solitary 

 state, inhabiting some old nests occasionally, and living 

 during that period on berries, without touching the hoards 

 which are reserved for winter, when the male and female 

 reside together in the same nest. They are said to breed 



