Biography of the Vizcacha. 301 
tually destroyed. Often when the young foxes are 
large enough to follow their mother, the whole 
family takes leave of the vizcachera where such cruel 
havoc has been made to settle in another, there to 
continue their depredations. But the fox has ever 
a relentless foe in man, and meets with no end of 
bitter persecutions ; it is consequently much more 
abundant in desert or thinly settled districts than 
in such as are populous, so that in these the 
check the vizcachas receive from the foxes is not 
appreciable. 
The abundance of cattle on the pampas has made 
it unnecessary to use the vizcacha as an article of 
food. His skin is of no value ; therefore man, the 
destroyer of his enemies, has hitherto been the 
greatest benefactor of his species. Thus they have 
been permitted to multiply and spread themselves 
to an amazing extent, so that the half “domestic 
cattle on the pampas are not nearly so familiar with 
man, or so fearless of his presence as are the viz- 
cachas. It is not that they do him no injury, but 
because they do it indirectly, that they have so long 
enjoyed immunity from persecution. It is amusing 
to see the sheep-farmer, the greatest sufferer from 
the vizcachas, regarding them with such indifference 
as to permit them to swarm on his run,” and bur- 
row within a stone’s throw of his dwelling with 
impunity, and yet going a distance from home to 
persecute with unreasonable animosity a fox, skunk, 
or opossum on account of the small annual loss it 
inflicts on the poultry-yard. That the vizcacha has 
comparatively no adverse conditions to war with 
wherever man is settled is evident when we consider 
