Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors Part 12

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7. The next day, as they sat down to dinner, a cold meat-pie was put upon the table. When it was cut open, there was the dormouse in the middle, curled up, and fast asleep.

8. The deer-mouse lives mostly in the fields, but it also makes its home in barns and houses. Its back and sides are of a slate color, but the under part of its body, and its legs and feet, are white. It is sometimes called the white-footed mouse, or wood-mouse. It builds a round nest in trees, that looks like a bird's nest, and it lives upon grain, seeds, and nuts.

9. This mouse seems fond of music, and once in a while one sings. Its song is very sweet, somewhat like that of a canary, but not so loud.

Mr. Lockwood's singing mouse would keep up its wonderful little song ten minutes without stopping.

LESSON x.x.xII.

_HOW THE RAT LOOKS AND LIVES._

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1. The rat looks like a very large mouse. It has the same kind of chisel-teeth, sharp claws, and long tail, and it lives very much in the same way as a mouse.

2. It eats all kinds of food, and will live where most other animals would starve. Its teeth are strong, and it can gnaw its way into the hardest nuts, or through thick boards.

3. The claws of the rat are sharp, so that it can run up the side of a house, or up any steep place where its claws will take hold. When at the bottom of a barrel, or kettle of iron, bra.s.s, or tin, it can not climb out.

4. The hind feet of the rat are made in a curious way: they can turn round so that the claws point back. This enables a rat, when it runs down the side of a house, to turn its feet around and hold on, while it goes down head foremost.

5. The tail of the rat is made up of rings, and is covered with scales and very short hair. The rat uses it like a hand to hold himself up and to take hold of things.

6. Rats live in houses and barns, or wherever they can get enough to eat. In cities, they get into drains, and eat up many things which would be harmful if left to decay.

7. They are great pests in the house, running about in the walls, gnawing through the ceilings, and destroying food and clothing.

8. When rats get into a barn, they are very destructive. They eat up grain, and kill young chickens; and they often come in droves, when the pigs are fed, to share the food.

9. Rats increase very fast. Each mother rat produces fifty young ones in a year; and if we did not take great pains to destroy them, they would drive us out of our homes.

LESSON x.x.xIII.

_STORIES ABOUT THE RAT._

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1. Rats are very fond of eggs; but they do not like to be disturbed while eating, and so they contrive to carry the eggs to their nests, where they can enjoy their feast in safety.

2. In carrying off eggs, several rats will often go together. A rat will curl his tail around an egg, and roll it along. Coming to a staircase, they will hand the egg one to another so carefully as not to break it.

3. A lady once watched the rats, which were at work at her egg-basket.

One rat lay down on his back, and took an egg in his arms. The other rats then seized him by the head, and dragged him off, egg and all.

4. Rats can easily be tamed, and even a dog can scarcely love its master better than a rat does when it is treated kindly. Mr. Wood tells this story of some tame rats:

5. "Some young friends of mine have a couple of rats which they have tamed. One, quite white, with pink eyes, is called 'Snow,' and the other, which is white, with a brown head and breast, is named 'Brownie.'

6. "The rats know their names as well as any dog could do, and answer to them quite as readily.

7. "They are not kept shut up in a cage, but are as free to run about the house as if they were dogs or cats.

8. "They have been taught a great number of pretty tricks. They play with their young master and mistress, and run about with them in the garden.

9. "They sit on the table at meal-times, and take anything that is offered to them, holding the food in their fore paws and nibbling it; but never stealing from the plates.

10. "They are very fond of b.u.t.ter, and they will allow themselves to be hung up by the hind feet and lick a piece of b.u.t.ter from a plate, or a finger.

11. "Sometimes these rats play a funny game. They are placed on the hat-stand in the hall, or put into a hat and left there until their owners go up-stairs.

12. "They wait until they are called, when they scramble down to the floor, gallop across the hall and up the stairs as fast as they can go.

13. "They then hunt until they find their master, climb to his shoulder, and search every pocket for a piece of bread and b.u.t.ter, which they know is there for them.

14. "They are very clean in their ways, and they are always was.h.i.+ng their faces and brus.h.i.+ng their mouths and fur with their paws, just as cats do.

15. "It is very amusing to see them search the pockets of those they know: diving into them, sniffing at every portion, and climbing out in search of another.

16. "They will not come at the call of a stranger, nor play any of their tricks with him; but they will allow themselves to be stroked and patted, and they never try to bite."

LESSON x.x.xIV.

_ABOUT RABBITS._

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1. We here come to the rabbit, one of our innocent and harmless friends that is a great pet with children. It is very timid and easily scared, but when treated kindly it becomes tame.

2. The rabbit is about the size of a cat, and has a short tail. The wild gray rabbit is not so large as the tame rabbit which we have about the house.

3. The rabbit has sharp gnawing-teeth like the rat and mouse, and it gets its food and eats it in the same way.

4. It eats the leaves and stalks of plants, and is very fond of cabbage, lettuce, and the tender leaves of beets and turnips. It sometimes does much damage by gnawing the bark of young fruit-trees.

5. It has whiskers like the cat, so that it can crawl into holes without making a noise.