THE MARMOT. 
223 
by the fur, which is brownish on the back, and 
reddish on the belly ; and the tail thick and 
bushy. 
These animals delight in high mountain re- 
gions, climbing readily and with ease the 
rocky eminences and fissures. Their retreats 
are formed with great art and precaution. 
They do not make a single hole, but a kind 
of gallery in the form of a Y, each branch of 
which has an aperture, and both terminate in 
a spacious apartment, where several of the 
animals lodge together. Both branches of 
the Y are inclined; one of them, running 
Onder the apartment, and following the de- 
clivity of the hill on which these abodes are 
always made, serves as a drain to carry ofP all 
offensive matters ; and the other, which rises 
above the principal apartment, is used for 
Coming in and going out. Their place of 
abode is well lined with moss or hay, of which 
they lay up a store during the summer. 
