450 MAMMALIA. 



but without tlie males, who continue to wander about. At the 

 end of summer, both males and females again unite in greater or 

 less numbers and proceed to form a new colony, for these animals 

 never occupy the same dwellings two years running. 



The Hamster Genus. — The Hamsters are about the size of the 

 Black Eat; but the body is more thick-set, and the tail much 

 shorter. They are specially characterised by the large bags in 

 the sides of the cheek, and extending as far back as the shoulder 

 behind the head. Their coat is a russet-grey on the upper part 

 of the body, and black or brown underneath, scattered over with 

 white and yellow spots. Their fur is valued. 



Hamsters, which are also called German Marmots and Eye- 

 Pigs (Fig. 185), are very plentiful in Siberia, Eussia, Poland, 

 and all over Germany. Alsace is the only province in France 

 in which they are found. Their habits resemble very much 

 those of the Economic Eat ; but instead of being, like the latter 

 animal, a source of profit to the natives of the country which 

 they inhabit, they associate with them devastation and ruin. 

 Cultivated fields are the usual scene of their depredations ; for 

 there they find an abundance of their favourite food. Occasionally 

 they destroy some of the weaker Eodents, such as Mice, Field- 

 Mice, &c. 



Burrows, composed of a chamber lined with straw, which serves 

 as their lodging, and various storehouses, are excavated by them, 

 three or four feet under ground. These communicate with one 

 another, while two runs afford access, one of which is oblique and 

 winding, and is used by the animal in ordinary circumstances ; 

 the other, which is vertical, is reserved for cases of pressing 

 necessity. In the storehouses, the Hamster hoards up seeds of 

 all kinds — wheat, rye, beans, peas, vetches, linseed, &c. Morning, 

 evening, and night, it crams its cheek-pouches with grain, after 

 having separated it from the husk ; and carrying it into the 

 subterranean dwelling, there deposits it. It is said that this 

 animal carries the spirit of order to such an extent as to arrange 

 in separate chambers the various seeds it stores. 



The quantity which the Hamster thus stores up is some- 

 times prodigious. Cases have been known where as much as 

 one hundred and twenty pounds weight has been taken from a 

 single burrow. These figures may give some idea of the ravages 



