252 OUR HOME PETS 



to the last degree when he is cared for and 

 able to choose his food. The rat is pecul- 

 iarly amenable to instruction, readily learns 

 to perform tricks of all sorts, and, what 

 may seem most singular in one against 

 whom every man's hand is raised, he be- 

 comes warmly attached to the friend who 

 cares for him. 



The white rat is often kept by boys, more, 

 however, as a curiosity than as a pet, and al- 

 ways under protest from their mothers. But 

 boys lose interest in it, and do not like care, 

 so the poor creature is apt to be neglected 

 and become an offence in the household. 

 This need never occur with any rat that is 

 cared for, especially if he is not confined to 

 a close cage. The white rat is neither so in- 

 telligent nor, in my opinion, so pretty as his 

 brown relative. The black-and-white rat of 

 Japan is sometimes seen in our country, and 

 he is said to resemble our own rats in his 

 characteristics. 



A winsome pet is the common brown mouse ; 

 and now I fancy I hear the most vigorous pro- 

 tests from my readers, who, though they do 

 not shriek and take refuge on chairs and tables 



