ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
23 
habit; namely, dragging every hard object to the 
mouth of its burrow ; around each group of holes many 
bones of cattle, stones, thistle stalks, hard lumps of earth, 
dry dung, &c., are collected into a heap, which frequently 
amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow would contain. 
Darwin goes on to remark c I was credibly informed, 
that a gentleman, when riding in a dark night, dropped 
his watch; he returned in the morning, and by searching 
in the neighbourhood of every viscacha hole on the line 
of road, as he expected, he soon found it. This habit of 
picking up whatever may be lying on the ground anywhere 
near its habitation, must cost much trouble. For what 
purpose it is done, I am unable to form the most remote 
conjecture ; it cannot be for defence, because the rubbish 
is chiefly above the mouth of the burrow, which enters 
the ground at a very small inclination.’ The Viscacha 
is herbivorous in its habits. It belongs to the Family which 
includes the Chinchilla which yields the valuable fur. 
The Coypu, that large rat-like rodent, is exhibited 
in the next compartment. It is also South American, 
occurring in the rivers on both sides of the Andes, and 
is found also frequenting the sea among the islands 
of the Chonos Archipelago. It is exclusively a vegetable 
feeder. It is closely allied to Plagiodon tedium , the house 
rat of the island of St. Dominique, The Coypu resembles 
a beaver in appearance, but has a round scaly tail. Its 
hindfeet are broadly palmated, so that it is an agile swim¬ 
mer. It inhabits the banks of streams and creeks, on which 
it constructs its burrows, and it also frequents the sea shore, 
and it is said to eat shell fish. It is nocturnal in its habits, 
and it is hunted with dogs for the sake of its fur which is 
valuable, as it has an under-fur resembling that of the Otter 
