THE ECONOMIC BAT. 



Description Habitations. 



have their drones or terriers, which are at no 

 trouble in the common operation of building. 

 These burrow like water-rats, in banks adjacent 

 to takes, rivers, and ditches; and often do consi- 

 derable damage by admitting the water through 

 the embankments of meadows. 



These animals are found in America, front 

 Hudson's Bay as far south as Carolina. 



THE ECONOMIC RAT. 



THE length of this animal is about four in- 

 ches, exclusive of the tail, which measures one 

 inch. The limbs are strong; the ears short, 

 fiaked, and almost hidden beneath the fur of the 

 head. The general colour is tawny, somewhat 

 whiter beneath than on the back. 



Economic rats are found in various parts of 

 Siberia and Kamtschatka; where they make their 

 burrows, with the utmost skill, immediately below 

 the surface of a soft turfy soil. They form a 

 low chamber of a flattish arched form, about a 

 foot in diameter, to which they sometimes add 

 twenty or thirty small passages or entrances. 

 Near the chamber they frequently construct 

 other caverns, in which they deposit their stores 

 of plants, which they gather in summer, and 

 bring home; and even, at times, they bring them 

 out of their cells to give them, a more thorough 



