152 The Living Animals of the World 



Alps just below tlie line of per]>etu;il snow. From five to fifteen marmots combine in 

 colonies, dig very deep holes, and, like the prairie-dogs, carefully line them with grass; they 

 also store uji dry grass for food. In autumn they grow very fat, and are then dug out of 

 the burrows by the mountaineers for food. Young marmots used to be tamed and carried 

 about by the Savoyard lioys, but this practice is now rare. The monkey is probably more 

 attractive to the pulilic than the fat and sleepy marmot. ]Marmots are about the size of 

 a rabliit. and have close iron-grey I'ur. 



Tschudi. the naturalist of the Alps, says of the marmots that they are the only mammal 

 which inhaliits the region of tlie snows. No other warm-blooded quadrupeds live at such an 

 altitude. In siiring, when the lower .snows melt, there are generally small pieces of short turf 

 near their holes, as well as great rocks, precipices, and stones. Here they make their burrows, 

 outside which tliey feed, with a sentinel always posted to warn them of the approach of the 

 eagle or lammergeir. The young marmots, from four to six in number, are born in June. 

 When they first appear at the mouth of the holes, tiiey are bluish grey; later the fur gains 

 a brownish tint. The burrows are usually at a height of not less than 7,000 or 8,000 feet. 

 Winter comes on ajiace. By the end of autumn the ground is already covered with snow, 

 and the marmots retire to sleep through the long winter. As tliey do not become torpid for 

 some time, thev require food when there is none accessible; this they store up in the form 

 of dried grass, wliich they cut in August, and leave outside their Inirrows for a time to be 

 turned into hay. 



The Alpine IMahmot is also found in tlie Carpathians and the Pyrenees. Another species, 

 the BoBAC, ranges eastward from tlie (jeiinan frontier across Poland, Kussia, and the stepjjes 

 of Asia to Kamchatka. In I.adak and Western Tibet a short-tailed species, the Himalayan 

 Marmot, is found, .sometimes living at a height of nearly 17,000 feet. The Golden Marmot 

 is found in the Pamirs. 



The Beavers. 



The Beavers are classed as the last family of the squirrel-like group of the Eodents, and 



the largest creatures of that oiiler in tlie nortliern hemisphere. The value of their fur has 



caused their destruction in great measure where they were once numerous, and has led to 



^^^^^^^^ their total extirpation wliere there 



. '' - formerly distributed over the greater 



j ]iart of Europe. In England semi- 



[;/ ,^. 'HjjS^tL _ ^f iifi> <f ^^(3^^ fossilised remains show that they were 



i^KJ^^^M "ot uncommon. In Wales beavers' 



«^9^^^H skins were mentioned in the year 



WKHB/^k ^40 in the laws of Howel Dha, and 



'^ - ''TIB in 1188 Giraldus stated that they 



^ were living on the river Teify, in 



- ^^tMnii Cardigan sliire. Beavers were formerly 



-V '"•••. '^^^ found in France, especially on the 



WHM^^r^'. Khoue, where a few are still said to 



K^P%,>;,-^«^ survi\-e, in Germany, Austria, Eussia, 



^^^, . ■ .^ Poland, and in Sweden and iSIorway. 



,.M ^ *:; on the rivers Dwina and Petchora, and 



on tlie great rivers of Siberia. A 



few still remain in two districts of 



Btj iKniiixsivik nf Uui iV(7!) I'nrk Zoijlorj:,;iJ Sunihj, 



AMERICAN BisAVER. Norway, and some were known to 



T)io enttineeiing ftata of the biiaveis, in diiriimin},' streams and forming pools, .lie tlio frequeilt tlie Elbe ill 1878. The 



n,ost remarkable achievements perfonued by living aainrak. ]\IoldaU, iu Bohemia, is alsO Credited 



