The New International Encyclopædia/Cavy  From Wikisource Jump
to: navigation, search  CAVY, kā'vĭ (Neo-Lat., Port. cavia, from
native Indian word). A small South American rodent of the family
Caviidæ, allied to the capybara and the agoutis, exclusively
neotropical, and represented familiarly by the guinea-pig. The
cavies are restless, semi-noctumal, herbage-eating creatures,
dwelling in burrows or crevices, increasing rapidly, and
furnishing food for both man and beast throughout the plains and
unforested highlands of that continent. The largest species
(Cavia patchonica), sometimes called ‘agouti,’ formerly spread
throughout the plains of all Argentina, but now nearly extinct,
resembles a hare standing upon terrier-like legs; it is a foot
in height, and rusty-red in general color. It digs deep burrows
of its own, and also occupies those of the vizcacha. The
restless cavy (Cavia forcellus), or ‘aperea,’ and Cutler's cavy
(Cavia Cutleri) are common in burrowing colonies in the La Plata
Valley, and seem to be t