THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
I have never seen any explanation of this foresighted habit, 
but it must have arisen in such a way as this: It is the natural 
a custom of most ground-keeping animals not mere 
Origin of ‘ 
Food Stor- grazers to take as much of their food as they well 
Bical can to some favorite eating place. This practice is 
observable in a wide range of creatures, and is prompted by 
various motives, of which the strongest, no doubt, is the desire 
for security from robbers and enemies; also in some cases the 
sharing of the meal with their family. Now one of the foremost 
characteristics of animal conduct is the desire to do things by 
rule, — to go accustomed rounds and repeat acts and operations 
in precisely the same way. Hence the habit of seeking the same 
place for a regularly recurring purpose, like eating, will be 
quickly confirmed, especially in such animals as these rodents, 
which have acquired the ability and practice of making and 
living in permanent burrows or houses. They are feebly en- 
dowed with powers either for defense or for escape outside their 
homes, and when gathering their food must not loiter much to 
eat as they go, but must pick up what they can carry and hasten 
to the safety of their doorways. ‘This is the reason why surviv- 
ing species of such animals have acquired cheek pouches, in 
which they can transport a fair meal of their food to be eaten 
at home at leisure. 
During the larger part of the year food is scant, and these 
rodents get into the way of picking up every bit they can find, 
and some seem so restless and energetic that they bring to their 
homes quantities of things not edible, as we have seen in the 
account of the viscacha. Similar instances of a habit of accu- 
mulating stuff, edible and otherwise, may be found among birds 
of the crow tribe and elsewhere, but it has not been developed 
among them beyond the careless, accidental stage which makes 
the action miserly rather than thrifty. In the case of our 
store-saving mice, hamsters, beavers, and their ilk, however, 
necessity and advantage together have led to a far more advanced 
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