WOOD RAT 



and the nest itself may be built about one of these thorny 

 plants. Wood Rats have a very inquisitive disposition and 

 seem possessed of a collecting instinct. Small objects of metal 

 especially attract them and the Rats bear off to their nests 

 anything of this sort that is left lying about a camp. Coins, 

 small traps, belt buckles, nails, and any bright object within 

 their powers of transportation will be carried away by these 

 visitors, and in the morning the articles can usually be found 

 piled on a nearby nest. 



The Bushy-tailed Wood Rats generally live in rocks or cliffs 

 and do not build large and conspicuous nests in the open. 

 Piles of debris may be seen in crevices in the rocks, but the 

 animals count more upon a retreat back of the rocks them- 

 selves. These species have the mania for collecting, however, 

 and it is not always so easy to find what they have carried off, 

 since it may be hidden in some out-of-the-way crevice. The 

 name Trade Rat is especially apt for these creatures because 

 they frequently bring some object to place on the spot where 

 they have stolen something. I have known Trade Rats to 

 carry off rivets from the blacksmith shop of a mining camp and 

 fill up the box where they got the rivets with pebbles and other 

 objects gathered up outside the shop. Perhaps in the eyes of 

 the Rat this was a fair exchange and no robbery. 



Although never becoming a house Rat to the extent that 

 the introduced Rats have become, Wood Rats sometimes leave 

 their native abodes and take up quarters in bams, ranch- 

 houses, and miners' cabins. Under such circumstances they 

 become a nuisance, chiefly because of the noise they make at 

 night and because of the articles they carry off. They are not 

 as destructive as the domestic Rats, however, although, of 

 course, they eat grain or whatever food of a- similar nature 

 they have access to. The bushy-tailed, mountain species 

 make a noise at night out of all proportion to their size, run- 

 ning over rafters, thumping on the floor, rattling the kindling 

 in the wood-box, or romping with care-free abandon. They 

 are apt to be bold rather than timid, and sit blinking at a light 

 instead of running for cover like a Norway Rat when their 

 midnight frolic is interrupted. 



Wood Rats are attractive creatures, with rather large eyes 

 and soft fur, and little of the slinking, furtive appearance of 

 the introduced Rats. As pets they soon become friendly and 



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