18 FOUll-FOOTEB AMERICANS 



" Do House People and fourfoots belong on the same 

 great branch?" said Raj^, looking puzzled. "What is 

 it called, p>lease?" 



" It is the Mammal branch, the highest of all, and it 

 has so many little branchlets and twigs that it is large 

 enough to be a tree all by itself." 



" Exactly how are the other Mammals like us, and 

 what does Mammal mean? Do they all have warm red 

 blood like ours?" asked Dodo, ayIio was celebrated for 

 cutting her fingers. 



" They all have warm red blood, but so have birds ; 

 there are other differences that you wdll learn later. 

 The one thing that makes them ]\Iammals is that they 

 suckle their young with milk." 



'^ M — mammals; m — milk," sang Dodo. "Why, 

 that is as easy to remember as ' Billy Button bought a 

 buttered biscuit ' ! Please tell us the names of some 

 nearby Mammals, Uncle Koy." 



" All the farm and house fourfoots are ^lammals ; 

 also the wild Deer, Wolves, Foxes, Hats, ]Mice, Squir- 

 rels, jNIoles, Skunks, Weasels, and Woodchucks, beside 

 many others you do not know even by name." 



" So all those nuisance animals are Mammals too," 

 said Dodo, meditatively. 



" Nuisance animals ! AVhich are those ? " asked 

 Rap. 



" The naughty, bothersome ones that eat things and 

 bite holes in the house, and dig up the orcliard, and 

 smell, oh, so bad ! Why, Rap, don't yoa remember 

 the evening we thought there was a black and white 

 rooster by the orchard wall, and Quick and I tried to 

 catch it, and it turned out to Ije a Skunk ''' Then my 



