say--using a
Yankee expression--have a `sprinkling' of the rat in them. Some, as the
ground-hog, or wood-chuck of the United States, are as large as rabbits,
while others, as the leopard-marmot, are not bigger than Norway rats.
Some species have cheek-pouches, in which they can carry a large
quantity of seeds, nuts, and roots, when they wish to hoard them up for
future use. These are the spermophiles, and some species of these have
more capacious pouches than others. Their food differs somewhat,
perhaps according to the circumstances in which they may be placed. In
all cases it is vegetable. Some, as the prairie-dogs, live upon
grasses, while others subsist chiefly upon seeds, berries, and leaves.
It was long supposed that the marmots, like the squirrels, laid up
stores against the winter. I believe this is not the case with any of
the different species. I know for certain that most of them pass the
winter in a state of torpidity, and of course require no provisions, as
they eat nothing during that season. In this we observe one of those
cases in which Nature so beautifully adapts a creature to its
circumstances. In the countries where many of the marmots are found, so
severe are the winters, and so barren the soil, that it would be
impossible for these creatures to get a morsel of food for many long
months. During this period, therefore, Nature suspends her functions,
by putting them into a deep, and, for aught we know to the contrary, a
pleasant sleep. It is only when the snow melts, under the vernal sun,
and the green blades of grass and the spring flowers array themselves on
the surface of the earth, that the little marmots make their appearance
again. Then the warm air, penetrating into their subterranean abodes,
admonishes them to awake from their protracted slumber, and come forth
to the enjoyment of their summer life. These animals may be said,
therefore, to have no winter. Their life is altogether a season of
summer and sunshine.

"Some of the marmots," continued Lucien, "live in large communities, as
the prairie-dogs; others, in smaller tribes, while still other species
lead a solitary life, going only in pairs, or at most in families.
Nearly all of them are burrowing animals, though there are one or two
species that are satisfied with a cleft in the rock, or a hole among
loose stones for their nests. Some of them are tree-climbers, but it is
supposed they only ascend trees in search of food, as