[AQ] This animal is very common in all the southern parts of Russia, principally in the most fertile countries and the best cultivated. He is not even rare in Tartary and the most southern parts of Siberia. In the desarts they live a wandering life; and they choose from preference those places where there is a great quantity of liquorice, the seeds of which serve them for provision.
THE BOBAK,[AR] AND OTHER MARMOTS.
[AR] This is its Polish name. It is called switsch from the cry of the animal.
The name of the Strasburgh marmot has been affixed to the hamster, and that of the Poland marmot to the bobak ([fig. 171.]). But it is as certain, that the hamster is not a marmot, as it is probable the bobak is one; for he only differs from the marmot of the Alps by the colour of his hair, which instead of being brown is rather a pale yellow: he has also a thumb, or claw, to the fore-feet, while the marmot has only four toes and no thumb; but in every other respect they perfectly resemble, which makes us presume they do not form two distinct species. It is the same with respect to the monax, or Canadian marmot, which some travellers have termed the whistler: he only seems to differ from the marmot by the tail, which is longer and thicker of hair. Therefore the Canadian monax, the Poland bobak, and the Alpine marmot, appear to be all the same animal, which from the influence of different climates have undergone those alterations we have before particularized. As this species prefers the coldest and highest mountains, and inhabits Poland, Russia, and other parts of the north of Europe, no wonder it is found in Canada, where it is only somewhat less, a circumstance not particular to it alone; for all animals common to both continents are smaller in the new than in the old.
The Siberian animal, called by the Russians jevraschka, is a kind of marmot, still less than the Canadian monax, the head of which is round, and the snout snubbed. It has no external ears, nor can the auditory passages be seen without turning back the hair. The length of the body, including the head, is not above a foot; the tail, which is scarcely three inches long, is nearly round towards the body, then flat, and truncated towards as extremity. The body is thick, the hair yellow, mixed with grey, and blackish towards the end of the tail. The legs are short, but those before are somewhat longer than those behind. The hind feet have five toes, with five black claws, a little crooked: the fore feet have but four. When these animals are irritated, or when they are surprised, they bite violently, and make a shrill noise like the marmot. They sit upon their hind legs to feed, and carry the food to their mouths with their fore paws. They copulate in spring, and bring forth in summer; commonly five or six at a time. They dig burrows for their winter residence, and the females suckle their young at the bottom of their habitations. Though these animals bear a great resemblance to the marmots, they nevertheless seem to be a different species, for the Poland or Alpine species of marmot are found in the same parts of Siberia, which the inhabitants call suroks, and these two species have never been observed to mix together, nor produce an intermediate race.