ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEOTOMA. 225 



pieces, and carry to its nest every thing left in its way. The trappers 

 dread its attacks on their furs more than they would the approach of a 

 grisly bear. These rats have been known to gnaw through whole packs 

 of furs in a single night. The blankets of the sleeping travellers are 

 sometimes cut to pieces by them, and they carry off small articles from 

 the camp of the hunter. 



" Mr. Dkummond," says Richardson, " placed a pair of stout English 

 shoes on the shelf of a rock, and as he thought, in perfect security ; but 

 on his return, after an absence of a few days, he found them gnawed into 

 fragments as fine as saw-dust." 



Mr. Douglass, who unfortunately lost his life in ascending Mouna 

 Roa, in the Sandwich Islands, by falling into a pit for catching wild 

 bulls, where he was gored by one of those animals, was one of the most 

 indefatigable explorers of the Western portions of our continent, and 

 kept a journal of his travels and discoveries in natural history. It was 

 never published, but a few copies were printed some time after his 

 death, by his friend and patron. Sir William Hookek, who presented one 

 of them to us. In it we found the following account of this animal : — 



" During the night I was annoyed by the visit of a herd of rats, which 

 devoured every particle of seed I had collected, ate clean through a bun- 

 dle of dried plants and carried off my soap, brush, and razor. As one 

 was taking away my inkstand, w^hich I had been using shortly before, 

 and which lay close to my pillow, I raised my gun, which, with my faith- 

 ful dog, always is placed under my blanket by my side with the muzzle to 

 my feet, and hastily gave him the contents. When I saw how large 

 and strong a creature this rat was, I ceased to wonder at the exploits 

 of the herd in depriving me of my property. The body and tail together 

 measured a foot and a half; the hair was brown, the belly white ; 

 it had enormous ears three quarters of an inch long, and whiskers three 

 inches in length. Unfortunately the specimen was spoiled by the shot 

 which in my haste to secure the animal and recover my inkstand, I did 

 not take time to change ; but a female of the same sort venturing to re- 

 turn some hours after, I handed it a smaller shot, w^hich did not destroy 

 the skin. It was in all respects like the former, except being a little 

 smaller." This identical specimen is in the museum of the Zoological 

 Society of London, where we examined it. 



Mr. TowNSEND has kindly furnished us with some remarks on this spe- 

 cies, from which we make the following extracts : — " I never saw it in 

 the Rocky Mountains, but it is very common near the Columbia river. It 

 is found in the store-houses of the inhabitants, where it supplies the place 

 of the common rat, which is not found here. It is a remarkably mis- 



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