THE MOUSE AND RAT. 



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 va- 

 riety 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 colonise 

 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 main- 

 tains the same love of liberty as its celebrated 

 ancestor is reported to have done; but the sim- 

 plicity 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 power- 

 fully endowed an animal could always provide 

 for its own necessities ; yet it prefers our provision 

 to any precarious supply from its own industry. 



