Chinchilla

“ The soft gleam of the chinchilla was still there: more than ever like a delicious shilling wantonly awaiting a beggar’s grasp. “Give her five minutes,” thought Ivor, “and if her man hasn’t turned up by then I must see about her. Wandering about in a chinchilla coat on a night like this! I will offer her my friendship for five minutes, stressing the word friendship so that she will know I am a man without casual desires. Ha!” He felt, at this moment, very gay; lighting a cigarette, he walked slowly as far as Hertford Street ”

“ When it is feeding the chinchilla sits upright, like a squirrel, and conveys the food to its mouth with its fore paws. It lives chiefly upon roots, and as the districts in which it lives are so wild and barren it often has to travel for long distances in order to obtain them. ”

“ If placed in the bosom, it remains as still and quiet as if it were in its own nest. It is very agile, and can leap to the height of several feet, its hind legs being longer than the fore legs. It usually sits upon its haunches, and is able to raise itself up and stand upon its hinder feet. It feeds in a sitting posture, grasping its food in its fore paws, in the same manner as the squirrel.
There is a variety of the chinchilla in Peru, but it is larger in size, and the fur is not so fine as that of the Chilian animal. ”

“ The genus Chinchilla, containing but a single species, C. laniger, is a small and squirrel-like creature, living at considerable heights in the Andes. The eyes, as it is a nocturnal creature, are naturally large; and so also are the ears. The fore-feet have five toes, the hind-feet only four; they are furnished with feeble nails. The innermost toe of the hind-foot has a flat and nail-like claw. There are thirteen dorsal vertebrae, and the long tail has more than twenty. The clavicle is well developed, as in the other genera of this family. ”

“ They have long tails, however, which the rabbit has not, though the latter beats them in the length of his ears. The colour of the chinchilla is known to everybody, since its soft, velvety fur is highly prized by ladies as an article of dress, and may be seen in every London fur-shop. ”

“ The intestinal proportions are those of Chinchilla. The ears and tail are long. L. cuvieri measures 11⁄2 feet in length.
Lagostomus, again, has but one species, L. trichodactylus. The animal has a tail about half the length of the body. The digits are reduced as compared with Chinchilla, there being but four on the fore- and three on the hind-feet. There are only twelve dorsal vertebrae, and seven ribs reach the sternum. In the skull a distinguishing mark from the last two genera is the separation of the infra-orbital foramen into two by a thin lamella of bone. ”

“ They make their nests in crevices of the rocks, to which they retreat, when pursued, as rabbits to their burrows. Of course, they are snared in a very similar manner—by setting the snares upon, their tracks, and at the entrances to their holes. One difference I noted. The Peruvian hunter used snares made of twisted horse-hair, instead of the spring wire employed by our gamekeepers and poachers. The chinchilla is a much more beautiful creature than the viscacha, and is a better-known animal, its soft and beautifully-marbled fur being an article of fashionable wear in the cities of Europe. ”

“ Mrs. Chinchilla looked on lazily and gravely. It had been a good while since she had had time or had felt young and gay enough to chase her tail, but she was very glad to see the kittens enjoy themselves harmlessly.
Now, while this was going on, some one came up to the window and looked in. It was the Boy who lived across the street. Mrs. Chinchilla disliked nearly all boys, but she was afraid of this one. He had golden curls and a Fauntleroy collar, and the sweetest lips that ever said prayers, and clean dimpled hands that looked as if they had been made to stroke cats and make them purr. ”

“ That chinchillas have not under such circumstances become rare, if not extinct, is owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are docile in disposition, and thus well fitted for domestication. The Peruvian chinchilla (C. brevicaudata) is larger, with relatively shorter ears and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus Lagidium, ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently formed skull. ”

“ It assembles in societies like the prairie-dogs, but is a much larger animal, from 18 inches to 2 feet long. Viscachas always set a sentinel to give warning of danger. They cut every kind of vegetable near and drag them to their holes; they also have a habit of picking up and collecting round the burrows any object which strikes them as curious. Articles lost by travellers, even whips or boots, may generally be found there. The viscacha belongs to the chinchilla family, but differs much from the beautiful creature of the high Andes from which chinchilla fur is taken. ”

“ So also is that very singular and beautiful creature, the Chinchilla of South America—so celebrated for its soft and valuable fur.
The Lemmings are another form of small rodent animals, celebrated for their extraordinary migratory habit; which resembles that of the grey squirrels of North America. There are several species of lemmings belonging to the northern section of the Old Continent—in Eastern Russia and Asia. One or two are found in North America—in that part of it known as the Hudson’s Bay Territory.
The Spinous Rats are little animals much resembling ordinary rats ”

“ It is externally like, and of about the same size as the Paca, but has a hairy tail. The animal is four-toed and plantigrade; the ears are short, and the nostrils are -shaped. It is usually regarded as belonging {496}to a separate family which will include but the one species, D. branickii.
Fam. 6. Chinchillidae.—This family, likewise South American, contains three genera, [357] all of which agree in having long limbs, especially the hind-limbs, and a bushy and well-developed tail. The hair is exceedingly soft, hence the commercial value of "chinchilla." ”

“ They are very pretty creatures, with their long snouts, full chestnut eyes, large, intelligent ears, and soft chinchilla-like fur. Their general colour is soft and slightly mottled grey, blackish upon the top of the head, taking a warmer tint upon the back, and becoming pure white below. The tail is very long and round, nearly white, and ringed regularly with black throughout its length. ”

“ Its fur is long, extremely soft, and somewhat resembles that of the Chinchilla. The ears are smaller, and the tail is shorter, and less densely clothed with hairs than in Reithrodon cuniculoides. The skull (see Plate 43, fig. 20, a, 20, b, and 20, c,) differs in many respects from that of the species last mentioned. It is of a smaller size, the nasal portion is proportionately shorter and narrower, the incisive foramina are shorter; the pterygoid processes do not approximate so nearly at their base, and the pterygoid fossæ are very shallow, whereas in R. cuniculoides they are deep. ”

“ I see a dear little bird about as big as a Chippy Sparrow, only fatter, and he is nice soft gray on top, about the color of my chinchilla muff. He has a black cap on his head, that comes down behind where his ears ought to be, fastened with a wide black strap across his throat, and his face is a very clean white, and his breast, too. ”

“ The more accurately the coloured portion is defined, the higher is the animal esteemed. The silver grey is a uniform-coloured breed, the fur of which is a rich chinchilla grey, varying in depth in the different strains. ”

“ Closely related to the chinchilla is the viscacha, which is found very abundantly in the great pampas districts of South America. It generally lives in little colonies of from twenty to thirty animals, [152] which dig their burrows close together, and heap up the earth which they scrape out into one common mound. These burrows are generally dug in the form of the letter Y, and often a number of them communicate with one another by means of short passages, so that if the little animals feel in want of society they can easily go and see their friends. ”

“ Used for ladies’ coats, stoles, muffs, hats and trimmings. Yearly becoming scarcer and most costly. Value 8s. 6d. to 56s. 8d.
Chinchilla, La Plata, incorrectly named and known in the trade as “bastard chinchilla,” size 9 × 4 in., in a similar species, but owing to lower altitudes and warmer climatic conditions of habitation is smaller, with shorter and less beautiful fur, the underwool colour being darker and the top colour less pure. Used exactly as the better kind, and the picked skins are most effective. As with the best sort it is not serviceable for constant wear. Value 4s. ”

“ Chinchillone.—Size 13 × 8 in., obtained also from South America. Fur is longer and weaker and poorer and yellower than chinchilla. Probably a crossbred animal, very limited importation. Value 3s. 6d. to 16s. 8d.
Deer, Chinese and East Indian.—Small, light, pelted skins, the majority of which are used for mats. Reindeer and other varieties are of little interest for use other than trophy mats. Thousands are taken for the leather trade. Value of Chinese 1s. ”

“ The narrowness of the brain-case in these three rabbits could be plainly seen and proved by external measurement. The Chinchilla rabbit (No. 14) is a considerably larger animal than the wild rabbit, yet the capacity of its skull only slightly exceeds that of the wild rabbit. The Angora rabbit, No. 13, offers the most remarkable case; this animal in its pure white colour and length of silky fur bears the stamp of long domesticity. It has a considerably longer head and body than the wild rabbit, but the actual capacity of its skull is less than that of even the little wild Porto Santo rabbits. ”

“ The Chinchilla laniger (Gray) lives only in a mild lower zone, and does not advance further south than the parallel of 35°. [JD]
Whilst among our European Alps, Lecideas, Parmelias, and Umbilicarias but scantily clothe with a few coloured patches those rocks that are not wholly covered with snow, we found in the Andes, at elevations of 13,700 to nearly 15,000 feet, some phanerogamic plants which we were the first to describe; as for instance, the woolly species of Fraylejon. ”

“ Chincha Islands, islands off the coast of Peru that had beds of guano, often 100 ft. thick, due to the droppings of penguins and other sea birds, now all but, if not quite, exhausted.
Chinchilla, a rodent of S. America, hunted for its fur, which is soft and of a grey colour; found chiefly in the mountainous districts of Peru and Chile.
Chinese Gordon, General Gordon, killed at Khartoum; so called for having, in 1851, suppressed a rebellion in China which had lasted 15 years.
Chinook, a tribe of Indians in Washington Territory, noted for flattening their skulls. ”

“ The chinchillas (Chinchilla and Lagidium) of the Andes and the Vizcacha (Viscaccia) of the Argentine plains have somewhat the appearance of hares, but with long and bushy tails. The cavies, to which the familiar, misnamed Guinea-Pig (Cavia porcellus) belongs, are a very characteristic family; besides the true cavies, it includes the Patagonian Mara (Dolichotis) , a large, long-legged, long-eared, short-tailed creature, and the Water-Hog, or Carpincho (Hydrochærus) , an aquatic animal, as its name implies, and much the largest of existing rodents ”

“ Sometime later, two young people came briskly across the snowy plain. The girl's eyes were shining in the cold, and she held her chinchilla muff against a distractingly pretty cheek. The young man objected to the muff ”

“ W. D. Fox, the young are born of a very pale grey colour, and specimens of such fur were sent me by the former gentleman. The grey tint, however, disappears as the animal comes to maturity. So that with these Himalayans there is a tendency, strictly confined to early youth, to revert to the colour of the adult silver-grey parent-stock. Silver-greys and chinchillas, on the other hand, present a remarkable contrast in their colour whilst quite young, for they are born perfectly black, but soon assume their characteristic grey or silver tints. ”

“ As a great many genera consist of single species there is no lack of cases of great restriction, such as the curious lemur called the "potto," which is found only at Sierra Leone, and forms the genus Perodicticus; the true chinchillas found only in the Andes of Peru and Chili south of 9° S. lat. and between 8,000 and 12,000 feet elevation; several genera of finches each confined to limited portions of the higher Himalayas, the blood-pheasants (Ithaginis) found only above 10,000 feet from Nepal to East Thibet ”

“ When they are crossed with common rabbits, the offspring are said not to have blended colours, but to take after either parent; and in this respect they resemble black and albino varieties of most quadrupeds, which often transmit their colours in this same manner. When they are crossed with chinchillas, that is, with a paler sub-variety, the young are at first pure albinoes, but soon become dark-coloured in certain parts of their bodies, and are then called Himalayans. ”

“ The Indians in hunting them employ the grison (Galictis vittata) , a member of the weasel family, which is trained to enter the crevices of the rocks where the chinchillas lie concealed during the day. ”

“ In the late summer and autumn months great activity is shown in garnering chinquapins, and there seems good reason to believe that large stores of these and various seeds are then housed away in the ground for use the following spring when the animals come out of hibernation and food is difficult to find otherwise. One individual had its cheek-pouches crammed with fragments of a brown-colored fungus such as forms bracket-like outgrowths on the bark of dead trees and old logs. Our experience shows this article of diet to be much sought after by members of the squirrel tribe generally. ”