290 



The Naturalist in La Plata. 



landowners, which has been more fortunate in its 

 results — or unfortunate if one's sympathies are with 

 the vizcacha — than the war of tlie Australians 

 against their imported rodent — tlie smaller and 

 more prolific rabbit. 



The vizcachas on the pampas of Buenos Ayres 

 live in societies, usually numbering twenty or thirty 



Vizcaclias. 



members. The village, which is called Vizcachera, is 

 composed of a dozen or fifteen burrows or mouths ; 

 for one entrance often serves for two or more distinct 

 holes. Often, where the ground is soft, there are 

 twenty or thirty or more burrows in an old vizca- 

 chera ; but on stony, or " tosca " soil even an old 

 one may have no more than four or five burrows. 

 They are deep wide-mouthed holes, placed vei-y 

 close together, the entire village covering an area 



