306 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



great spaces can be covered, and the ascent must 

 either be made on the ground, or by means of a 

 great number of very short flights from the top of 

 one tree to the base of another only a very little 

 farther up the slope. 



The large red Indian squirrel, Sciurus indicus, is 

 often on sale in the bazaars of Calcutta, but does 

 not make a very interesting pet. It is not nearly 

 so lively in captivity as many other squirrels are, 

 and is much disfigured by the blunt roundness of 

 its muzzle, and the repulsive orange tint of its 

 teeth. 



Rats and mice are only too abundant in most 

 houses and gardens in India. The sound of their 

 riotous nocturnal excursions over the canvas ceilings 

 so common in houses in Upper India, is familiar to 

 every one as one of the trials of restless nights in 

 the hot weather ; and very few residents of Calcutta 

 can have failed to suffer from the effects of their 

 annual invasion of houses when the onset of the 

 monsoon rains drives them in in throngs from their 

 out-of-door haunts. In Calcutta, brown rats, Mus 

 decumanus, are permanent inhabitants of houses, 

 stables, and other buildings, but the so-called black 

 rats, M. rattus, usually have their head-quarters 

 in gardens, and only come indoors in considerable 

 numbers when they are drowned out by excessive 

 rainfall. They are not so unpleasing to look at 

 as brown rats are, and, indeed, are rather pretty 



