Biography of the Vizcacha. 301 



tually destroyed. Often when tlie young foxes are 

 large enough to follow their mother, the whole 

 family takes leave of the vizcachera where such cruel 

 havoc has been made to settle in another, there to 

 continue their depredations. But the fox has ever 

 a relentless foe in man, and meets with no end of 

 bitter persecutions ; it is consequently much more 

 abundant in desert or thinly settled districts than 

 in such as are populous, so that in these the 

 check the vizcachas receive from the foxes is not 

 appreciable. 



The abundance of cattle on the pampas has made 

 it unnecessary to use the vizcacha as an article of 

 food. His skin is of no value ; therefore man, the 

 destroyer of his enemies, has hitherto been the 

 greatest benefactor of his species. Thus they have 

 been permitted to multiply and spread themselves 

 to an amazing extent, so that the half-domestic 

 cattle on the pampas are not nearly so familiar with 

 man, or so fearless of his presence as are the viz- 

 cachas. It is not that they do him no injury, but 

 because they do it indirectly, that they have so long 

 enjoyed immunity from persecution. It is amusing 

 to see the sheep-farmer, the greatest sufferer from 

 the vizcachas, regarding them with such indifference 

 as to permit them to swarm on his " run," and bur- 

 row within a stone's throw of his dwelling with 

 impunity, and yet going a distance from home to 

 persecute with unreasonable animosity a fox, skunk, 

 or opossum on account of the small annual loss it 

 inflicts on the poultry-yard. That the vizcacha has 

 comparatively no adverse conditions to war with 

 wherever man is settled is evident when we consider 



