34 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



as pack animals, from this it is an easy step to 

 substitute the word pack for the word carry. 



Thirty years ago, in all parts of Kentucky, the 

 word pack was commonly used for carry and the 

 people packed their bundles and baskets. Even 

 the school children packed their books to school, 

 the pack having survived from the time when Ken- 

 tucky was first settled and when household goods 

 and personal baggage were brought into the 

 state on the backs of men and animals. The word 

 may not now be generally used in this sense in 

 Kentucky, but it still is in the Rocky mountains 

 and through the Southwest and Northwest. 

 Wherever the hunter or prospector is found the 

 word pack is used in the place of carry, hence, 



A PACK RAT IS A RAT THAT CARRIES THINGS. 



The trappers hate these little animals because 

 of their mischievous pranks and they one and all 

 kill the rats at every opportunity. I could fill this 

 book with the wonderful stories that are told 

 about this rodent. One trapper, a friend of mine 

 named Jim, has a snug little shack in the Cascade 

 mountains, and Jim confided to me that he had 

 not killed a pack rat in a long time. 



This was not because of the scarcity of pack rats 

 in his neighborhood, for every night they pulled 

 his things about or selecting a loose spot in his 

 roof they would stamp on it with their little front 

 feet and make the big shingle rattle with a loud 

 noise. Next to packing things about, if there is 



