GNAWING ANIMALS. 193 



All the members of the mouse family have 

 slender bodies, long legs, pointed heads, with 

 ears that are very visible, and with tails naked, 

 and in most cases equal in length to the body. 



Now mark the difference between this descrip- 

 tion of the mouse family and the following 

 description of the vole family. The voles include 

 bank voles, water rat or water vole, and short- 

 tailed field mouse. The voles have plump and 

 short bodies, thick head and arched forehead, 

 with blunt snout and ears quite hidden in the 

 fur, and a short hairy tail. 



Perhaps there are no animals so destructive to 

 the farmer as rats and mice, and no animals so 

 difficult to get rid of. It is impossible to esti- 

 mate the loss that the agriculturalist suffers 

 through rats and mice. If the sum total could 

 be worked out it would be startlingly large. 



The smaller black rat was the original rat in 

 this country, but the stronger and larger brown 

 rat has almost completely exterminated the old 

 English black rat. 



The brown rat was brought to this country in 

 ships from abroad, probably from India or 

 Russia. 



House Mouse. A pretty little creature is the 

 house mouse, but a great nuisance when it gets 

 lodgment in a dwelling-house or out-building. 



The long-tailed field mouse is found in woods, 



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