THE MARMOT.
Reading edition
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.
