390 Appendix. 



of an old disused burrow. Probably the beaver possesses 

 some rude instinct similar to that of the vizcacha. 



Apropos of animals burying their treasures (or connec- 

 tions) for safety, it is worth mentioning that the skunk of 

 the pampas occasionally buries her young in the kennel, 

 when hunger compels her to go out foraging. I had often 

 heard of this habit of the female skunk from the gauchos, 

 and one day had the rare good fortune to witness an animal 

 engaged in obliterating her own kennel. The senses of the 

 skunk are so defective that one is able at times to approach 

 very near to without alarming them. In this instance I sat 

 on my horse at a distance of twenty yards, and watched the 

 animal at work, drawing in the loose earth with her fore 

 feet until the entrance to the kennel was filled up to within 

 three inches of the surface ; then, dropping into the shallow 

 cavity, she pressed the loose mould down with her nose. 

 Her task finished, she trotted away, and the hollow in the 

 soil, when I examined it closely, looked only like the mouth 

 of an ancient choked-up burrow. The young inhabit a 

 circular chamber, lined with fine dry grass, at the end of a 

 narrow passage from 3 ft. to 5 ft. long, and no doubt have 

 air enough to serve them until their parent returns ; but I 

 believe the skunk only buries her young when they are very 

 small. 



