ZOOLOGY MAMMALS. 85 



in case their house is demolished.* I tore down several, but could not by that means obtain 

 any of the rats, though, from the warmth of their nest, they had evidently just left it. This 

 nest is composed of fine grass, bark, and leaves, is about large enough to fill a hat, and placed 

 near the middle of the building, about a foot above the ground. By means of galleries and 

 openings like windows in the sides of the pile, they watch the approach of danger from their 

 nest without being seen. 



I succeeded in shooting several rats at last, by burning down their houses, and watching for 

 them as they came out. They would stay till the last moment — often until they were much 

 singed. If another nest was near, they ran for it ; if not, ascended the nearest tree, and sat 

 stupidly gazing at the destruction of their home, dazzled by the blaze. 



I also caught some in a steel trap, baited with biscuit, of which they seemed very fond. 

 They are mostly nocturnal in habits, but sometimes come out in the daytime, when all around 

 is quiet, and then fall a prey to the numerous hawks that are watching for them and the 

 squirrels. This wood rat lays up large stores of acorns, &c , in hollow trees, and has been 

 known to kill, and carry to this retreat, a whole broad of chickens. It is. however, not very 

 troublesome to the farmer, and never makes its residence in houses. 



All that I obtained from their nests were males, and in no nest did I find more than two 

 together. The females probably have a nest in hollow trees, where they produce their young, 

 as I was told that they were sometimes driven out with the young clinging to them, as do those 

 of the wood mouse. A hunter told me that when encamped near these rats' nests, he once had 

 a large quantity of ship biscuit stolen by them, and for a long time he suspected the Indians of 

 the theft, until he thought of searching the premises of his four-legged neighbors, where he 

 found the whole of the plunder carefully piled away. 



I found these rats quite active up to the 1st of December, and their hybernation is short, if 

 any, in the lower valleys. 



Size. — Nose to tail, 9 inches ; tail, 8 to 8i ; circumference at root, 1 inch. Hind foot, IJ 

 inches ; fore foot to elbow, 2\. Ear, 1 inch long, \\ wide. Head, 2\ inches long. 



NEOTOMA OCCIDENTALIS, Cooper. 



Bush-tailed Rat. 



M'eotoma occidenlalis, (Co .per MSS.,) Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, April, 1855, 335. 



Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 496. 

 A'eofomo drummondii, Aud. & Bach., N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 223 ; pi. xxix. 



Sp. Ch. — Size of Norway rat. Fur harsh. Tail densely hairy, the vertebrae as long or longer than the body, e.xclusive of 

 the head. Color above, broadly grayish lead color, the basal wool but little lighter. Posterior third of soles furred. Body 

 above, brownish plumbeous, with a slight mi.xture of yellowish brown. Under parts of body and tail, with feet, bluish white. 



The "wood rat," as it is called near the coast, inhabits the wooded regions west of the 

 Cascade mountains, but is more abundant in some places than others. I did not hear of it at 

 Puget's Sound, where I inquired for it. At the Cascades of the Columbia I was first told 

 of such an animal, and am inclined to think it prefers the mountains rather than a level 

 country, like that at the Sound and Vancouver. At Shoalwater bay, in July, 1854, I first 

 obtained a specimen. Having occasion to sleep in a log house, at the foot of some high hills, 

 the owner told me that the wood rats were very troublesome to him, eating everything vege- 

 table they could get at, and carrying off articles that they could not use. The house being 

 uninhabited most of the time, we found on entering that they had made a nest on the bedstead, 



* An Australian rat of a different genus is described oe building houses of the same kind. — ( Hapalotis conditor, Gould ) 



