THE MOUSE AND RAT. 161 



with the human race as this is, yet there are other ani- 

 mals that seem dependent on man for support, or at 

 least that find his means subservient to their comforts, 

 and domesticate themselves with him. The meadow 

 and the long-tailed mouse occasionally become foragers 

 in our gardens and domains, when a natural supply of 

 food becomes difficult of attainment, yet they are not 

 wholly settlers with us ; but the common mouse (mus 

 domesticus) resorts entirely to our premises, and seems 

 to exist wholly on food of our providing. In towns it 

 accommodates its appetite to the variety of sustenance 

 it finds there ; and will enjoy the preserve in the pot, 

 the cheese in the rack, or the pie in the pantry. In 

 the country it will ransack the cupboard, live in the 

 barn, or colonize in our ricks. Still, in all these cases, 

 the store and provision of man are its delight, and its 

 only resource; and it will even quit a residence which 

 is abandoned by its provider. It is true it maintains 

 the same love of liberty as its celebrated ancestor is 

 reported to have done ; but the simplicity of manners 

 and taste of the sage, the "hollow tree, the oaten 

 straw," have been abandoned ; it has become pleased 

 with household comforts, and a luxurious citizen in its 

 appetite. 



The rat (mus rattus), too, perhaps, may be united 

 with these companions of mankind. Not knowing it 

 in an independent state, we cannot say what its resources 

 might be, but so sagacious and powerfully endowed 

 an animal could always provide for its own necessities ; 

 yet it prefers our provision to any precarious supply 

 from its own industry. In summer it partially quits our 

 dwellings, the heat and dryness of our buildings be- 

 coming irksome to it, and the occasional difficulty of 

 obtaining water, in which it delights, prompts it to re- 

 sort to hedges and banks for a certain period ; but it 

 always returns when our barns are filled, and ready 

 for it. 



The house fly (musca carnaria) is another creature 

 that appears domesticated with us ; in some seasons a 

 very numerous, and always a very dirty inmate. It as- 

 sociates in our windows at times with a similar insect 



