Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/92

 ; the latter, however, is mostly seen in the country of the Chakhars, i.e. on the south-eastern border of the Gobi. Of mammalia peculiar to this desert only two characteristic kinds can be mentioned : the Alpine hare and antelope.

The Alpine hare (Lagomys Ogotono), or, as the Mongols call it, the Ogolono, belongs to the order of rodents, and is from the form of its teeth regarded as closely allied to the hare. It is about the size of the common rat and burrows in the earth, invariably choosing for its habitat the grass steppes, particularly where the ground is uneven, and the valleys in the mountains of Trans-Baikalia and the north of Mongolia. It is never found in the barren desert, and, therefore, does not inhabit the central and southern Gobi.

The ogotono is a curious little animal of a sociable disposition, and where one of its burrows is found some tens, hundreds, or even thousands more will invariably be near it. In winter, when the cold is intense, they never leave their holes, but as soon as the temperature becomes warmer they come out and sit at the entrance sunning themselves, or scamper from one burrow to another. The poor ogotono has so many enemies that it must be constantly on the look-out for danger. It will sometimes only venture half-way out of its hole, raising