THE AGOUTI AND THE PACA 257 



North America has nothing that looks at all like him. His 

 personality is dominated by a big, overgrown head very 

 much like that of an Australian wombat — massive, obtuse, 

 and all-pervading. His body is massive, the front legs are 

 short and thick, the hind legs are much too long, and the 

 upper line of the body is much too round. The tail is short 

 and bushy. In figures, the length of the head and body is 

 about 22 inches and the tail is about 8 inches. The colors 

 are an indescribable mixture of gray, black, and brown. 



The Viscacha is a plains animal, and lives in colonial 

 burrows, like the United States prairie-" dog." The colony 

 as a whole often forms a pronounced mound that on a level 

 plain is rather conspicuous. These animals live on grass, 

 roots, and stems of plains-growing plants. 



Of course the fur trade has not overlooked the fine, soft 

 coat of the Viscacha, and in 1912 Lampson & Co., of London, 

 sold 8,114 skins of this species, under the name "Bastard 

 Chinchilla." 



THE AGOUTI AND THE PACA 



Family Dasyprodidae 



When you are hunting in one of the dense, hot-house 

 forests of the Orinoco delta and the dogs scare up a little 

 animal that gives a shrill squeak of fright and goes scurry- 

 ing away through the low brush with the speed of a scared 

 rocket, all the members of the party will jump nervously 

 and brandish their guns; and then the Venezuelan member 

 will smile, and sang-froidedly exclaim: 



"Ac-cou'rie!" 



