236 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



severely alone. They were no longer friends ; 

 they simply ignored one another's presence in the 

 room. The little ones, numbering about a dozen, 

 presently came to light and were quietly removed 

 by the woman's husband, who didn't mind his 

 missis keeping a rat, but drew the line at one. 



The rat quickly recovered from her loss and 

 was the same nice affectionate little thing she had 

 always been to her mistress ; then a fresh wonder 

 came to light — cat and rat were fast friends once 

 more ! This happy state of things lasted a few 

 weeks ; but, as we know, the rat was married, 

 though her lord and master never appeared on the 

 scene, indeed, he was not wanted ; and very soon 

 it became plain to see that more little rats were 

 coming. The rat is an exceedingly prolific creature ; 

 she can give a month's start to a rabbit and beat 

 her at the end by about 40 points. 



Then came the building of the nest in the same 

 old corner, and when it got to the last stage and 

 the rat was busily running about in search of soft 

 materials for the lining, she once more made the 

 discovery that those beautiful tufts of hair on her 

 friend's face were just what she wanted, and once 

 more she set vigorously to work pulling the hairs 

 out. Again, as on the former occasion, the cat 

 tried to keep her friend off, hitting her right and 

 left with her soft pads, and spitting a little, just 

 to show that she didn't like it. But the rat was 

 determined to have the hairs, and the more she 

 was thrown off the more bent was she on getting 



