In general colour the fur of the upper-parts is light brownish yellow; but the sides of the face are variegated with chestnut and white, and there is a white area on the shoulder, while the under-parts and the greater portion of the limbs are black, the black extending upwards to some extent behind the fore-legs. Hamsters are, however, subject to considerable individual variation in colour, and black, pied, and even white examples are by no means uncommon. Soft dry soils other than loose sand, which is unsuited for its burrows, form the favourite resorts of the hamster, which in localities of this nature ranges from the valley of the Rhine to that of the Obi in Siberia. Its distribution is, however, very local, and the species is unknown in the southern and south-western districts of Germany, as it is also in eastern and western Prussia: in Thuringia and Saxony, on the other hand, it is abundant. The chief interest of the hamster is concentrated in its remarkable habits. These rodents associate in large societies; and, like marmots, construct both summer and winter burrows, in the latter of which they become torpid during the cold months of the year. The winter-burrow includes a large sleeping-chamber, situated at a depth of from one to two yards below the surface; and also a storehouse or granary, in which quantities of corn of various kinds are collected by these industrious rodents for use during such portions of their retirement as they are active. The burrow leading to the dwelling-chamber descends almost perpendicularly, but takes a turn before opening into the chamber itself, which is likewise provided with an oblique emergency exit. Although grain forms their chief nutriment during the period of retirement, hamsters in summer consume large quantities of peas, beans, roots, fruits, and grass and other green food. [Illustration] As a rule, hamsters retire from the world to their subterranean dwelling-places some time during October; when they block up the entrances and exits of the winter-burrows with earth. Apparently they almost immediately enter on their winter-sleep, from which they do not awake till the following February or March, according to the temperature. The weather at this early period of the year is, however, by no means suited for an out-door existence, and these rodents accordingly subsist for a season on their hoarded grain. The old males generally make their appearance above ground about the middle of March, but the females defer their emergence till a fortnight or so later. They are then ravenously hungry, and will devour almost anything that comes in their way, including beetles or other insects and an occasional bird or mouse.