Biography of the Vizcacha. 313 



circumstances in the different localities wliere I 

 have met with it, I am sure that other variations 

 will occur in the more distant regions, where the 

 conditions vary. 



The most remarkable thiasr to be said about 

 the vizcacha is, that although regarded by Mr. 

 Waterhouse, and others who have studied its 

 affinities, as one of the lowest of the rodents, 

 exhibiting strong Marsupial characters, the living 

 animal appears to be more intelligent than other 

 rodents, not of South America only, but also of those 

 of a higher type in other continents. A parallel 

 case is, perhaps, to be found in the hairy armadillo, 

 an extremely versatile and intelligent animal, 

 although only an edentate. And among birds the 

 ypecaha — a large La Plata rail — might also be men- 

 tioned as an example of what ought not to be ; for 

 it is a bold and intelligent bird, more than a match 

 for the fowl, both in courage and in cunning ; and 

 yet it is one of the family which Professor Parker — 

 from the point of view of the anatomist — charac- 

 terizes as a " feeble-minded, cowardly group." 



