Biography of the Vizcacha. 311 



or ten days before they receive their hire : for the 

 animals covered up are then supposed to be all dead. 

 Some of these men I have talked with have assured 

 me that living vizcachas have been found after 

 fourteen days — a proof of their great endurance. 

 There is nothing strange, I think, in the mere fact 

 of the vizcacha being unable to work his way out 

 when thus buried alive ; for, for all I know to the 

 contrary, other species may, when their burrows 

 are well covered up, perish in the same manner; 

 but it certainly is remarkable that other vizcachas 

 should come from a distance to dig out those that 

 are buried alive. In this good office they are ex- 

 ceedingly zealous ; and I have frequently surprised 

 them after sunrise, at a considerable distance from 

 their own burrows, diligently scratching at those 

 that had been covered up. The vizcachas are fond 

 of each other's society, and live peaceably together ; 

 but their' goodwill is not restricted to the members 

 of their own little community; it extends to the 

 whole species, so that as soon as night comes many 

 animals leave their own and go to visit the adjacent 

 villages. If one approaches a vizcachera at night, 

 usually some of the vizcachas on it scamper off to 

 distant burrows : these are neighbours merely come 

 to pay a friendly visit. This intercourse is so 

 frequent that little straight paths are formed from 

 one vizcachera to another. The extreme attach- 

 ment between members of different communities 

 makes it appear less strange that they should assist 

 each other : either the desire to see, as usual, their 

 buried neighbours becomes intense enough to impel 

 them to work their way to them ; or cries of 



