THE HERMIT WOOD RAT 43 



covered with a silky pelage as soft as moleskin, 

 brownish buff on the back, clearer buff on the 

 sides, and with white underparts. His feet, too, 

 were white, and the tail (what was left of it) 

 bicolored, dusky above and whitish below — 

 not ratlike, but covered with soft, short hairs. 

 The mutilated tail was really the only detrac- 

 tion from his good looks. 



Like the three blind mice celebrated in the 

 rondo he had had his tail cut off, probably in 

 some scrappy feud with another of his kind, so 

 that only a stubby, funny-looking stump was 

 left. And so I called him my Billy Bob-Tail. 



With a queer teetering gait Billy now made 

 his way to the fireplace, took up an orange peel 

 which had been thrown there with other scraps 

 at breakfast-time and proceeded to nibble it, 

 holding it the while up to his mouth with 

 his little short forepaws. Shortly he took up 

 another peel, but this time made off with it, 

 carrying it into the closet and down through a 

 knot-hole under the house. In a minute he was 

 back again and got another, and another, work- 

 ing in all fully a half-hour at his self-appointed 

 task. I now began to realize where all my table 



