290 



THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



that the Beavers dive to enter them ; they have two divisions 

 or rooms in them, and are sufficiently large to lodge several 

 families. The Eat is too well-known to need much des- 

 cription. The brown or Norway Eat has only been an 

 inhabitant of this country about forty years, the black Bat 

 being before that time the usual house Eat, but it is now 

 almost exterminated, specimens being very rare. There 

 are several other species of Eats ; the best known is the 



FIG. 61. BEAVERS (Castor fiber). 



"Water Eat, who burrows in brooks and ditches, and partly 

 lives in the water. Of the Mouse there are also several 

 species. Besides the usual house Mouse, there is the wood 

 Mouse, which forms a magazine of grain and nuts under- 

 ground for winter store ; and the harvest Mouse, which 

 builds a little round nest between the stalks of corn. The 

 Squirrel is also of this order. This pretty little creature 

 lives in the trees, chiefly feeding upon nuts ; can leap well, 

 and run up the branches of trees with surprising agility. 

 The Flying Squirrel has a broad expansion of skin between 



