THE NEOTOMAS, OR PACK RATS 35 



intelligence of a high order, and every time I 

 see this home I have greater respect for the 

 little creature that makes it. 



Pack rats are largely nocturnal creatures, 

 though occasionally they come out in the day- 

 time to feed. They eat a variety of foods, but 

 the chief fare is the seeds of grasses and com- 

 posites, and, in the spring, green vegetation. 

 They are not good gnawers in the sense the 

 common rats are, and they seldom molest food 

 or clothing protected in closed boxes or chests. 

 It is the mice that do the mischief there. 



The nests of the desert species, which are 

 made under rocks, generally consist only of a 

 network of burrows with several well-protected 

 openings. Those of the mountains, which are 

 of sticks, contain several small compartments, 

 each with a distinctive use. Thus one nest I in- 

 vestigated consisted of several long hallways, 

 or tunnels, a granary wherein were stored seeds 

 and green willow stems, a bedroom, and a 

 special compartment used as a storeroom for 

 excreta, for the wild rats are very cleanly 

 creatures. There were no odors of any kind 

 anywhere about the nest. These stick houses 



