342 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



inside one of these strange homes. Once in my Colorado 

 camping days a pair of these Rats turned our ' dug- 

 out' camp topsy-turvy during a two days' absence. 

 They filled the tea kettle from a heap of shavings and 

 splint wood that had been cut for kindling, mixed a 

 quantity of fish hooks in a sack of flour that was ujj on 

 tlie roof logs, emptied a case of shot on the hearth, and 

 made away with every tin spoon our outfit could boast, 

 In return, they filled the frying pan with a lot of sticky 

 cones that they must have brought from half a mile 

 awaJ^ When we returned they seemed to think they 

 had improved the camp and made it more homelike, 

 and peeped at us proudly from between the boughs. 



" Rats, however, who cannot keep their hands off the 

 property of otl:iers, may be interesting, but even if they 

 are bric-a-brac collectors, they never should be allowed a 

 foothold inside one's home. Meddlesome House People, 

 hear, and take warning ! " 



" Be careful. Dodo," said Olive ; " if you keep moving 

 that trap, the first tiring you know the door will come 

 unhooked and all those mice will get out, and Quick 

 will tear everj^thing to bits trying to get them." 



" Our second group, the Gopher family, contains 

 upwards of thirty members, two of which are fairly 

 common. 



" The Gophers are stout burrowing animals, seven or 

 eight inches long, with outside cheek pouches for carry- 

 ing home their provisions ; strong, long, gnawing teeth, 

 and powerful fore limbs armed with desperate claws for 

 digging out their homes. Happily they do not live very 

 near us, but they are a scourge in the prairie regions of 



