The Alpine Marmot inhabits the Alps, Pyrenees, and other high
mountains immediately below the region of perpetual snow. It is about
the size of a hare, of a yellowish green color, tinted with an ashen
hue about the head; the upper lip is cleft and whiskered. Marmots live
in families, who mutually aid each other in excavating a common
dwelling,--a chamber lined with dried grass, at the end of a passage,
six or eight feet, in the form of the letter Y, one of the branches
serving as an entrance, the other as a sewer. During winter, the
mouth is closed by earth. They feed in company, but always place a
sentinel, who, on the first appearance of danger, utters a shrill cry,
when the whole retreat.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: KOODOO.]