RATS AND MICE FAMILY 



22"] 



Although a member of the same group as the 

 Eastern Wood Rat, the Brushy-tail deserves 

 separate mention. In its outer markings it is 

 seen at a glance to be noticeably different. This 

 is a mountain-living Rat, living in timber and 

 generally in rocky localities. 



The Brushy-tailed Wood Rat is far handsomer 

 than its cousins of the genus Neotoma. Instead 

 of the common, ordinary tail, scaly, long, and 

 naked, it has one resembling that of the Squir- 

 rel, well covered with hair, and bushy to boot. 

 There are several forms found in British Colum- 

 bia, western Canada, the Pacific coast region of 

 Oregon and Washington, eastward to the plains 

 of central Idaho. Its habits are similar to those 

 of the other Wood Rats, above described, its 



thieving propensities are not limited to things 

 they can use — in fact, the wider the assort- 

 ment of material collected, the better they like it. 

 And the things given in barter may be anything 

 from rubbish to articles of value. Generally 

 speaking, they do little harm. Their antics are 

 merely absurd. 



As might be expected, the home of this night 

 jjrowler is fearfully and wonderfully made. On 

 the plains the nests are conical and composed 

 chiefly of sticks; but (according to Edward A. 

 Goldman of the U. S. Biological Survey) thorny 

 vegetation, bits of cactus, bones, stones, leaves, 

 and almost anything else they can carry enter into 

 the construction of their homes. The habit of 

 building nests of sticks and of accumulating 



Photograph by the U. S. Biological Survey 



BRUSHY-TAILED WOOD RAT 



A young specimen of a group that is larger and handsomer than its near kin, 

 and is also marked by a long bushy tail, instead of the usual naked or scaly 

 appendage 



houses and nests being built of the usual mate- 

 rials. The Indians on the Stony River, Alberta, 

 called these Rats " medicine rats," in allusion to 

 the musk glands. 



This industrious little beast is commonly 

 known in the West as -Trade Rat, or Pack Rat, 

 from its well-known habit of carrying things 

 from one place to another, and often leaving 

 other things in exchange, or trade. Many amus- 

 ing stories are told to illustrate this propensity. 

 On one occasion the Rat removed a quantity of 

 rice from a cupboard jar to an old hat in a store- 

 room, bringing back in exchange some perfectly 

 good collar buttons. On another, the busy ani- 

 mal, or animals carried a lot of seeds from a 

 drawer and hid them in a vase. This time they 

 did not ofifer anything in exchange. Their 



more or less such material about the entrances to 

 their burrows, even when in rocky places, is 

 common to most of the species. Many bushels 

 of trash are often piled against a rock or the 

 trunk of a tree or in a small cave. These nests, 

 or burrows, have from one to half a dozen or 

 more entrances to chambers, both above and be- 

 low the surface of the ground. More or less, 

 well-defined runways usually radiate in several 

 directions from the entrances into the surround- 

 ing vegetation or may connect nests many yards 

 apart. Occupied nests may be known at a glance 

 by their well-kept appearance. Slight additions 

 and repairs are made frequently, and the run- 

 ways are cleared of sticks and leaves. Sure 

 signs of occupation are a few freshly cut twigs 

 or leaves laid on or stuck into the upper walls. 



