486 
MAMMALIA. 
so that it will suffice if we speak of the common species, the only 
one, in fact, which has been well studied. 
The Common Marmot lives on the high peaks of the Swiss 
and Savoy Alps, in the vicinity of the glaciers. It forms small 
societies, composed of two or three families, and digs out burrows 
on the slopes exposed to the sun. These burrows have the form 
of the letter Y ; the galleries are so very narrow that it is with 
difficulty the human hand can be inserted into them. At the 
extremity of one of these oblique shafts is found a spacious 
chamber of an oval form, in which the proprietors rest and 
sleep. The vertical passage has no exit, and appears to be 
specially destined to receive the ordure of the community, though 
they may, perhaps, obtain from it the materials necessary to cover 
and consolidate the other two conduits, which serve for principal 
gallery and sleeping-room. 
The Marmots in a state of nature live exclusively on herbage. 
According to Tschudi, they crop off the shortest grass with 
wonderful rapidity. During fine weather they love to stretch 
themselves out, frisk, play, or bask in the rays of the sun. 
Remarkable for caution, they never sally from their retreats 
without taking the greatest precautions ; the old venturing first, 
after carefully inspecting the neighbourhood, then follow the 
others in rotation according to seniority. Feeding, playing, or 
basking, they lose nothing of their vigilance, for as soon as one 
has the slightest suspicion of danger, it utters a sharp bark 
of warning, which is quickly repeated by those near it, and in 
an instant the whole band rush into their burrow, or fly towards 
some place of concealment. 
Marmots have a summer and winter residence — a town and 
country mansion. In summer they betake themselves to the 
highest part of the mountain, where they devote themselves to 
breeding and rearing their young, the number of which varies 
from two to four, and who remain with the parents until the fol- 
lowing summer. When autumn arrives, they descend to the 
region of pasturage, and dig out a new burrow for their winter 
home, which is always deeper than the summer retreat. It is 
then they make hay — cutting grass, turning and drying it, 
which, when cured, they carry into the chamber appointed for its 
reception. 
