130 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



the dogs had their periodical hunting fits, when 

 they would vanish for half a day's vizcacha-hunting 

 on the plain, just as fox-terriers and other dogs 

 in which the hunting instinct still survives steal 

 out of the village to chase or dig out rabbits on 

 their own account. 



The vizcacha is a big rodent and lives in 

 communities, in warrens or villages composed of a 

 group of huge burrows, and the native dogs are 

 fond of assaulting these strongholds but seldom 

 succeed in getting at their quarry. A dog no bigger 

 than a fox-terrier can make his way in till he 

 comes to grips with the vizcacha, usually with the 

 result that he gets well punished for his audacity. 

 Our dogs would simply labour to enlarge the 

 burrows by scratching and biting away the earth 

 and furiously barking at the animal inside who 

 would emit curious noises and cries, which the dogs 

 appeared to regard as insults and would only 

 cause them to redouble their efforts. 



On several occasions, when riding on the plain 

 a mile or two from home, I would come on our 

 dogs — the entire pack and the lamb with them, 

 engaged in the siege and assault of a vizcacha 

 village or earth. A funny sight ! The dogs would 

 jump up barking and wagging their tails as if to 

 say, " Here we are, you see, just in the middle of 

 our fight with no time to spare for friendly con- 

 versation." And back they would fly to their 

 burrows. The lamb too would dance up to give 

 me a welcome and then back to her duties. Her 



