As summer resorts, Alpine marmots select situations with a southerly, easterly, or westerly aspect on the mountain slopes, and here they construct their summer dwellings, which are designed to afford them shelter in bad weather and to serve as a refuge from danger. In autumn they dig deeper into the sides of the mountains to construct their winter burrows and chambers, which have to afford accommodation for the entire family, whose number generally ranges between five and fifteen individuals. The burrow terminates in a large chamber, which is filled with soft, short hay. As early as August these rodents begin to collect grass, which is spread out on the hillsides to dry, and then carried into the burrows.
The entrance to the burrow is only just wide enough to admit the owners, and at the commencement of the winter-sleep is blocked with earth, stones, clay, grass, and hay. When this work is completed, the whole family falls into a death-like sleep lasting from six to eight months; in this torpid condition, well protected from the intense cold, they remain till awakened to new life by the warmth of returning spring.
Marmots feed upon a number of different kinds of Alpine plants, as well as on the fresh or dried grass found in the neighbourhood of their burrows. When eating, they sit up on their hind-legs and hold the food in their mouths after the manner of squirrels; and the herbage they consume is so full of sap, that they seldom require to drink. The same upright position is assumed when they first come out of their burrows, in order that they may see whether all is safe; if danger threatens, they utter a shrill whistle and disappear with marvellous rapidity into the depths of the burrow. Frequently they take up their position on some large rock in the neighbourhood of the burrow, on which they can either sit up and survey the prospect, or bask in the warmth of the summer sun.
Their extraordinary wariness and the rapidity with which they disappear from view are due to their numerous enemies, among which man, foxes, and eagles and other birds-of-prey are the chief. It requires only the shadow of an eagle’s wings to make them utter their piercing, whistling scream and vanish into the holes, from which they do not reappear for some time. As a rule, they only remain above ground while the sun is shining, and they keep entirely below during bad weather, so that they are regarded by the peasants as weather-prophets.
To the Savoyards and other Alpine peasantry the marmot is a valuable animal; its flesh being much esteemed as food, when it has been freed from a certain disagreeable odour by smoking. The fat is regarded as a remedy for many diseases; and a freshly removed marmot skin is considered wonderfully efficacious in cases of rheumatism. Marmots are caught either by trapping or by digging them out of their burrows. Years ago Savoyard organmen used frequently to be accompanied by a marmot or two.
THE HAMSTER
(Cricetus frumentarius)
THE hamster, which, although abundant in many parts of the Continent is unknown in the British Isles, is the typical representative of a large section of the mouse tribe characterised by the cusps on the upper cheek-teeth forming two longitudinal rows, instead of the three found in those of ordinary rats and mice. In size it may be compared to a rat, but its tail is reduced to a mere stump, not more than a couple of inches in length; while it is further characterised by the brilliant and variegated colouring of its fur. Short-legged and stoutly built, it has relatively small, membranous ears, large brilliant eyes, a rather sharp muzzle, small toes, and short claws. The glossy, hairy fur is underlain by a thick woolly under-fur. Very characteristic of this animal is a narrow line of fur darker than the rest on the middle line of the back which marks the position of a gland.
In general colour the fur of the upper-parts is light brownish yellow; but the sides of the face are variegated with chestnut and white, and there is a white area on the shoulder, while the under-parts and the greater portion of the limbs are black, the black extending upwards to some extent behind the fore-legs. Hamsters are, however, subject to considerable individual variation in colour, and black, pied, and even white examples are by no means uncommon.