The Kangaroo Rat 



Such a load added to his head totally displaces 

 his centre of gravity, which is adjusted for 

 leaping with empty pockets. But here is where 

 the tail comes in. Its great length and size 

 make it a powerful lever, and by raising it to 

 different angles he accommodates himself to his 

 load and leaps along in perfect poise in spite of 

 a week's provision in his cheeks. 



He was the most indefatigable little miner 

 that I ever saw. Those pinky-white paws, 

 not much larger than a pencil-point, seemed 

 never weary of digging, and would send the 

 earth out between his hind legs in little jets like 

 a steam-shovel. He seemed tireless at his work. 

 He first tunnelled the whole mass through and 

 through, and, I doubt not, made and unmade 

 several ideal underground residences, and solved 

 many problems of rapid underground transit. 

 Then he embarked in some landscape-gardening 

 schemes and made it his nightly business to 

 change entirely the geography of his whole 

 country, laboriously making hills and canons 

 wheresoever seemed unto him good. 



There was one landscape effect that he seemed 

 very fond of. That was a sort of Colorado 



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