although originally a native of Brazil, propagates freely in
England and other European countries. Were it not that they
suffer cruelly from cats, and numerous other enemies, and that
it is the habit of the males to devour their own offspring,
their numbers would soon become overwhelming. Rats, however, it
is said, carefully avoid them; and for this reason they are
frequently bred by rabbit-fanciers, by way of protection for
their young stock against those troublesome vermin. The lower
tier of a rabbit-hutch is esteemed excellent quarters by the
guinea-pig: here, as he runs loose, he will devour the waste
food of his more admired companion. Home naturalists assert that
the guinea-pig will breed at two months old, the litter varying
from four to twelve at a time. It is varied in colour,--white,
fawn, and black, and a mixture of the three colours, forming a
tortoiseshell, which is the more generally admired hue.
Occasionally, the white ones have red eyes, like those of the
ferret and the white rabbit. Their flesh, although eatable, is
decidedly unfit for food; they have been tasted, however, we
presume by some enthusiast eager to advance the cause of
science, or by some eccentric epicure in search of a new
pleasure for his palate. Unless it has been that they deter rats
from intruding within the rabbit-hutch, they are as useless as
they are harmless. The usual ornament of an animal's hind
quarters is denied them; and were it not for this fact, and also
for their difference in colour, the Shaksperean locution, "a rat
without a tail," would designate them very properly.
[Illustration: THE CYGNET.]