RATS AND MICE FAMILY 



229 



The Cotton Rat may be distinguished from the 

 Meadow Mouse, to which it bears a certain 

 resemblance, by its long tail. It is a thickset 

 animal about two-thirds as large as the common 

 House Rat, and what it lacks in size it makes up 

 in courage and destructiveness. According to 

 Hornaday, it is " vicious in temper and vora- 

 cious in appetite. It is fond of flesh, and when 

 several are caged together, the stronger ones do 

 not scruple to kill and eat weaker rats of their 

 own kind." 



either on the surface or in underground bur- 

 rows. Their runways are very extensive, a per- 

 fect network of them often connecting the sev- 

 eral burrows. Along these runways they cut 

 the green stems of grass and various plants, eat- 

 ing the stems, leaves, and seeds ; and they gather 

 on the edges of grain fields where they feed on 

 both the green and the ripening grain. 



They are especially numerous along the bor- 

 ders of cotton fields, and, according to Bailey, 

 the runways opening into the fields are often 



Photograph truni U. ^. iiii.»l<.igical Survey 



COTTON RAT 

 The Cotton Rat is a fighter, vicious in temper, and greedy in appetite. It is fond of flesh 



Cotton Rats inhabit the Southern States and 

 Mexico, the range of the common species extend- 

 ing from North Carolina to northern Florida 

 and west to southern Louisiana. In the eastern 

 half of Texas a paler and smaller form occurs. 

 Individuals of this species, though common, are 

 not often seen, as they live under cover of tall 

 grass and weeds and along the banks of streams 

 and ditches. They make bulky nests of grass 



fairly lined with cotton that has been pulled 

 from the bol!s and dragged under cover where 

 the seeds can be eaten in safety. " The loss of 

 cotton is not great in any one field, but, consid- 

 ered over the entire range of this group of Cot- 

 ton Rats, it is considerable." Bailey thinks that 

 a simple and effective means of getting rid of 

 these pests would be " to clean out the borders 

 of fields by burning the weeds, grass, and rub- 



