THE RODENTS, OR GNAWING ANIMALS 135 
These creatures have cheek-pouches to 
aid them in’ carrying food. In addition 
they are most voracious and inquisitive, 
so that the hamster is a type throughout 
Central Europe of selfishness and greed. 
We are sorry to add that John Bull 
occasionally appears in German cartoons 
as the “ Land-hamster,” or land-grabber. 
Hamsters are numerous from the Elbe 
to the Obi. They burrow and make 
cellars in the corn- and bean-fields, and 
convey thither as much as a bushel of 
grain. As soon as the young hamsters 
can shift for themselves, each moves off, 
makes a separate burrow, and begins to 
hoard beans and corn. As the litter 
sometimes contains eighteen young, the 
mischief done by the hamster is great. 
Its coloration is peculiar. The fur, which 
is so thick as to be used for the linings 
of coats, is a light yellowish brown 
above. A yellow spot marks each cheek. The lower surface of the body, the legs, and a band 
on the forehead are black, and the feet white. Thus the hamster reverses the usual natural 
order of colour in mammals, which tends to be dark on the back and light below. The animal 
is 10 inches long, and very courageous. Hamsters have been known to seize a horse by the 
nose which stepped on their burrow, and at all times they are ready to defend their home. 
Besides vegetables and corn, they destroy smaller animals. They spend the winter in a more 
or less torpid state in their burrows, but emerge early in spring. They then make their summer 
burrows and produce their young, which in a fortnight after birth are able to begin to make a 
burrow for themselves. 
Among the South American members of the group to which the hamster belongs are the 
FisH-EATING Rats, with webbed hind feet. The Rice-rat, which is found from the United States 
to Ecuador, lives on the Texas 
prairies much as do the prairie- 
marmots, though its burrows 
are not.so extensive, and often 
quite shallow. In these the 
rats make beds of dry grass. 
Photo ly A, S. Rudland & Sons 
LONG-EARED JERBOA 
These curious little animals are mainly desert creatures. They move by 
a series of leaps 
THE VOLEs. 
The VoLEs are allied to 
the preceding groups, but are 
marked externally by ashorter 
and heavier form than the 
typical rats and mice. Their 
ears are shorter, their noses 
blunter, their eyes smaller, 
and the tail generally shorter. Photo by A. 8. Rudland & Sons 
They are found in great num- CAPE JUMPING-HARE 
bers at certain seasons, when This animal is very common in South Africa. The Boers call it the ‘* Springbaas’? 
