20 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



to come in contact with the disgusting rodents 

 which inhabit our cities and houses. 



A Flushing rat made the mistake of his life in 

 attacking a parrot belonging to a neighbor of mine. 

 There was a terrible rumpus. 



POLLY USED VIOLENT LANGUAGE 



and more violent measures to defend herself. She 

 lost some feathers and got some scratches, but she 

 must have ripped that rat up in a heart-rending 

 manner, for the cage was bedaubed with blood 

 and a trail of gore led across the dining-room floor, 

 through the kitchen to a large rat hole where it 

 ended. It was a record, bearing mute testimony to 

 the ability of Polly to take care of herself even 

 when attacked by a midnight marauder. 



Mice are more interesting than the big dirty 

 rats and when one meets 



A SINGING MOUSE 



one has indeed a novelty. 



A correspondent to the London Daily Mail 

 writes about a singing mouse; he says that it has 

 "been warbling just like a canary." Another man 

 writing to the Indianapolis News tells of a sing- 

 ing mouse which he caught and kept in captivity. 

 A dispatch to the Cleveland Plain Dealer tells of 

 another man who also caught a mouse which he 

 claimed "whistled and sang like a canary." Per- 

 sonally I know of only two singing mice, one was 



