THE MICE— MICE PROPER. 



335 



these regards seems to surpass the Black Rat; at 

 least it is a much better swimmer. It can dive 

 nearly as well as a truly aquatic animal. 



Development Among the senses of the Rats, hear- 

 of the Physical ing and sight stand foremost; the 

 Senses of Rats, former is especially excellent, and 

 sight also is highly developed. Their acuteness of 

 taste is but too often exhibited in pantries, where the 

 Rats always select the choicest morsels. As to their 

 intellectual capacities there is little to say. One 

 certainly cannot deny that they are possessed of 

 reasoning power, and, still more, o,f calculating sly- 



THE COTTON RAT. Among the native species of Rats found in this country is the Cotto: 



Rat. found in the southern states. Like the Black Rat, its numbers are diminishing as those of th 

 Brown Rat increase. (Sigmodon hispidus.) 



ness and a certain craftiness with the help of which 

 they escape from dangers of the most varied kinds. 

 There have been several accounts of the way in 

 which they remove eggs unbroken. Doubts as to 

 their manner of proceedings are no longer justified, 

 since a Man like K. von Dalla Torre related the fol- 

 lowing incident in 1880, witnessed by himself: "In 

 the cellar of a house at Innsbruck, eggs, which were 

 kept there, were repeatedly found missing this win- 

 ter. Suspicion pointed to the servant girl, who did 

 all she could to prove her innocence, but in vain. 

 In this plight she bethought herself of watching for 

 the thief and by this means she wit- 

 nessed the cunning with which the 

 Rats got at the eggs. The eggs 

 lay piled up in a loose heap, and a 

 greedy Rat emerged from a hole, 

 soon followed by another. The 

 first seized an egg with its fore- 

 paws, and with the aid of the other 

 Rat, pushed it to one side as far as 

 a few gentle shoves would carry it. 

 Then the first Rat hugged it with 

 its fore-limbs, after the method 

 by which Spiders carry their egg 

 pouches. Of course this Rat could 

 move himself no further, his fore- 

 legs being employed in holding the 

 egg. Then the second Rat seized 

 the tail of the first with its mouth 

 and with apparent ease quickly pulled its compan- 

 ion toward the hole whence they had issued. The 

 whole proceeding, which, concluding from the num- 

 ber of missing eggs, was the result of considerable 

 practice, lasted barely two minutes; one hour after 

 the thievish couple had first appeared on the scene, 

 they reappeared, undoubtedly with the same inten- 

 tion. By the kindness of the family, in whose 

 house the incident happened, I had the opportunity 

 of being an eye-witness to this mode of theft, which, 



according to the assurances of the servant girl, was 

 always accomplished in the same manner." 

 Birth and Deuel- Rats are exceedingly prolific ani- 

 opment of Young, mals. The female gives birth to 

 Rats. from five to twenty-two young Rats, 



which are charming little creatures, and would 

 please anybody if they did not happen to be Rats. 

 "On the 1st of March, 1852," says Dehne, "a white 

 Rat in my possession had seven young. She had 

 built a snug nest of straw in her wire cage. The 

 young were as large as May Bugs and of a blood- 

 red color. At every movement of the mother they 

 uttered a shrill, piping, squeaking 

 sound. On the 8th their color had 

 already become tolerably white ; 

 from the 13th to the 16th they 

 ceased to be blind. On the night 

 of the 1 8th they came out for the 

 first time; but when the mother 

 saw that they were observed, she 

 took one after another into her 

 mouth and carried them into the 

 nest. Some of them emerged from 

 another hole, however. Charming 

 little animals they were, of the 

 size of a Harvest Mouse and with 

 tails about three inches long. On 

 the 21st they had already attained 

 the size of Common Mice, and on 

 the 28th that of Wood Mice. They 

 were still occasionally suckled by 

 the mother, played and romped in the most enter- 

 taining manner, sitting on their mother's back and 

 letting her carry them about. They were a great 

 deal more amusing to watch than white Mice." 



Rats Easily Rats which are closely confined and 

 Domesticated and well cared for become so tame that 

 Tamed. they not only suffer themselves to be 



touched or used as playthings by children, but be- 

 come accustomed to come and go in house, yard 

 and garden, follow their keepers about like Dogs, 

 respond to calls, in short, become domestic animals 

 in the true sense of the word. 



FLORIDA WOOD RAT. 



the south is di: 

 Rat, yellowish 



ndigenous species of Rat which, while especially numerous in 



]y all parts of the country east of the Rocky Mountains. It is a large 

 ve. white below. {Ncotoma floridana.) 



Rats Subject to In the natural state Rats are some- 

 Peculiar Disease— times subject to a peculiar disease 



the "King Rat." vvhich causes the tails of several Rats 

 to grow together and then they form the so-called 

 "King Rat," which was formerly imagined to be 

 something quite different from what it is now known 

 to be. One can occasionally see it in some of the 

 museums. In olden times it was popularly believed 

 that the King Rat, adorned with a golden crown, sat 

 enthroned on a group of Rats thus grown together, 



