THE CONQUEST OF THE DRY LAND 213 



With the increasing need for protecting the 

 young there has grown up an increasing degree, 

 not only of parental care, but of parental 

 affection. The highest expression of this is 

 found if we leave the birds out of account 

 among the Mammals, that great class 

 which includes forms so different as Man, the 

 monkeys, the carnivores, the hoofed animals, 

 the gnawers, besides the aerial bats and the 

 marine whales. All these animals have one 

 great point of resemblance to which they owe 

 their name of Mammal the young are fed 

 for the first period of their lives on the milk of 

 the mother. The period of suckling varies 

 greatly in length. The little harvest-mouse, 

 the smallest but one of our four-footed beasts, 

 makes an egg-shaped nest by splitting stalks 

 of grass or corn and weaving them firmly 

 together. The nest, which usually hangs from 

 a corn-stalk, is lined with soft leaves, and in 

 this comfortable home the young ones, eight 

 or nine at a birth, are brought forth, and are 

 suckled by the mother. But she only allows 

 them this luxurious life for a week or two till 

 they are able to see and to stand on their own 

 legs. Then, we are told, she takes them out, 

 "gives them a little practical instruction in the 



