50 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



and this while I lay in bed. A half-dozen times 

 I was awakened in the night by his tugging at 

 the cotton padding. By pounding on the floor 

 each time I frightened him off, but the fluffy . 

 stuff inside the mattress was so incomparably '■ 

 wonderful as bedding for baby pack rats that 

 he just could n't keep away. Never mind, old 

 Billy; two pounds of cotton you owe me and 

 the price of a new mattress, maybe. After this 

 I '11 hang my bedding on the clothes line by day, 

 and see that the cot is perched at night high on 

 the rocks far beyond your travels. 



My hermit wood rat's mate seldom showed 

 herself, and when she did come around, she was 

 exceedingly shy and retiring. From the nature 

 and extent of Billy's activities I must presume 

 that among these humble rodent folk the males 

 supply most of the material for the nest, and 

 that they take some real interest in the rearing 

 of the young, the number of which is generally 

 three to five. 



The home was made under a large rock near 

 the comer of my dwelling where I could care- 

 fully watch the activities about the nest. Dur- 

 ing the early life of the baby neotomas the 



