230 COTTON-RAT. 



HABITS. 



This is the most common wood-rat existing in the Southern States, being 

 even more abundant than any of the species of meadow-mice in the 

 Northern and Eastern States. It is however a resident rather of hedges, 

 ditches, and deserted old fields, than of gardens or cultivated grounds ; it 

 occasions very little injury to the planter. Although its paths are every- 

 where seen through the fields, it does not seem to destroy many plants or 

 vegetables. It feeds on the seeds of coarse grasses and leguminous plants, 

 and devours a considerable quantity of animal food. In its habits it is 

 gregarious. We have seen spots of half an acre covered over with tall 

 weeds, (Solidago and Eupatorium,) which were traversed in every direc- 

 tion by the Cotton-Rat, and which must have contained several hundred 

 individuals. 



Although this species does not reject grains and grasses, it gives the 

 preference in all cases to animal food, and we have never found any 

 species of rat more decidedly carnivorous. Robins, partridges, or other 

 birds that are wounded and drop among the long grass or weeds in the 

 neighbourhood of their burrows are speedily devoiu-ed by them. They 

 may sometimes be seen running about the ditches with crayfish, (Astacus 

 Bartoni) in their mouths, and have been known to subsist on Crustacea, 

 especially the little crabs called fiddlers, {Gelasimus vocans.) 



We have frequently kept Cotton-Rats in cages ; they killed and de- 

 voured every other species placed with them, and afterwards attacked 

 each other ; the weakest were killed and eaten by the strongest. They 

 fight fiercely, and one of them will overpower a Florida rat twice its 

 own size. 



The old males when in confinement almost invariably destroy their 

 young. 



This species delights in sucking eggs, and we have known a Virginian 

 partridge nest as completely demolished by these animals, as if it had 

 been visited by the Norway rat. They will sometimes leave Indian-corn 

 and other grain untouched, when placed as a bait for them in traps, but 

 they are easily caught when the traps are baited with meat of any kind. 



Although the Cotton-Rat is nocturnal in its habits, it may frequently be 

 seen by day, and in places where it is seldom disturbed, it can generally 

 be found at all hours. 



The galleries of this species often run twenty or thirty yards under 

 ground, but not far beneath the surface ; and the ridges thrown up as the 

 animals excavate their galleries, can often be traced along the surface 



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