Biography of the Vizcacha. 293 



founder of a new community; for they increase 

 very slowly, and furthermore are extremely fond of 

 each other's society ; and it is invariably one 

 individual that leaves his native village to found a 

 new and independent one. If it were to have 

 better pasture at hand, then he would certainly 

 remove to a considerable distance ; but he merely 

 goes from forty to fifty or sixty yards off to begin 

 his work. Thus it is that in desert places, where 

 these animals are rare, a solitary vizcachera is never 

 seen ; but there are always several close together, 

 though there may be no others on the surrounding 

 plain for leagues. "When the vizcacha has made his 

 habitation, it is but a single burrow, with only 

 himself for an inhabitant, perhaps for many months. 

 Sooner or later, however, others join him : and 

 these will be the parents of innumerable genera- 

 tions ; for they construct no temporary lodging- 

 place, as do the armadillos and other species, but 

 their posterity continues in the quiet possession of 

 the habitations bequeathed to it; how long, it is 

 impossible to say. Old men who have lived all 

 their lives in one district remember that many of 

 the vizcacheras around them existed when they 

 were children. It is invariably a male that begins 

 a new village, and makes his burrow in the following 

 manner, though he does not always observe the 

 same method. He works very straight into the 

 earth, digging a hole twelve or fourteen inches wide, 

 but not so deep, at an angle of about 25° with the 

 surface. But after he has progressed inwards a 

 few feet, the vizcacha is no longer satisfied with 

 merely scattering away the loose earth he fetches 



