50 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



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taken by the house rat for the same reason, or lack 

 of reason, which prompts the pack rat to commit 

 its thefts. In this last case, however, it was not 

 the work of the common brown rat, for back 



IN 1770 IT WAS THE BLACK RAT WHICH IN- 

 FESTED OUR HOUSES, 



a rat which the brown rats have since almost ex- 

 terminated. 



Even mice have been known to rob a till, and 

 the Florida rat seems to have precisely the same 

 traits as the pack rat. It took a lot of Florida 

 lats only six nights to carry two bushels of shelled 

 beans thirty feet and -replace the beans with the 

 empty seed pods. A lady in Florida was dis- 

 mayed to find a number of seeds in the place of 

 the diamond earrings she had left on her bureau, 

 she knew where the seeds came from and there 

 found her missing ear-rings, but the best joke was 

 on the gambler who found his supply of poker 

 chips replaced with a string of prayer beads and 

 a small crucifix. The devout priest who occupied 

 the next room, however, was greatly shocked to 

 find in place of his rosary a heap of sinful poker 

 chips. 



Strange to say the most pestiferous and an- 

 noying wild things often make the most delightful 

 and amusing pets. Mr. Charles Frederick Holder 

 once owned a tame pack rat which was allowed the 

 freedom of his room and which he told me was 



