1833.} THE BIZCACHA. 125 
most favourite resort appears to be those parts of the plain which 
during one half of the year are covered with giant thistles, to 
the exclusion of other plants. ‘The Gauchos affirm that it lives 
on roots; which, from the great strength of its gnawing teeth, 
and the kind of places frequented by it, seems probable. In the 
evening the bizcachas come out in numbers, and quietly sit at 
the mouths of their burrows on their haunches. At such times 
they are very tame, and a man on horseback passing by seems 
only to present an object for their grave contemplation. They 
run very awkwardly, and when running out of danger, from 
their elevated tails and short front legs, much resemble great 
rats. heir flesh, when cooked, is very white and good, but it 
is seldom used. 
The bizcacha has one very singular habit; namely, dragging 
every hard object to the mouth of its burrow: around each 
group of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard 
lumps of earth, dry dung, &c., are collected into an irregular 
heap, which frequently amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow 
would contain. I was credibly informed that a gentleman, when 
riding on a dark night, dropped his watch; he returned in the 
morning, and by searching the neighbourhood of every bizcacha 
hole on the line of road, as he expected, he soon found it. This 
habit of picking up whatever may be lying on the ground any 
where near its habitation, must cost much trouble. For what 
purpose it is done, I am quite unable to form even the most re- 
mote conjecture: it cannot be for defence, because the rubbish 
is chiefly placed above the mouth of the burrow, which enters 
the ground at a very small inclination. No doubt there must 
exist some good reason 5 but the inhabitants of the country are 
quite ignorant of it. The only fact which I know analogous to 
it, is the habit of that extraordinary Australian bird, the Calo- 
dera maculata, which makes an elegant vaulted passage of twigs 
for playing in, and-which collects near the spot, land and sea- 
shells, bones, and the feathers of birds, especially brightly co- 
loured ones. Mr. Gould, who has described these facts, in- 
forms me, that the natives, when they lose any hard object, 
search the playing passages, and he has known a tobacco-pipe 
thus recovered. : 
The little owl (Athene cunicularia), which has been so often 
