THE MOUSE AND RAT. 
161 
with the human race as this is, yet there are other ani- 
mals that seem dependent on man for support, or at 
least that find his means subservient to their comforts, 
and domesticate themselves with him. The meadow 
and the long-tailed mouse occasionally become foragers 
in our gardens and domains, when a natural supply of 
food becomes difficult of attainment, yet they are not 
wholly settlers with us ; but the common mouse (mus 
domesticus) resorts entirely to our premises, and seems 
to exist wholly on food of our providing. In towns it 
accommodates its appetite to the variety of sustenance 
it finds there ; and will enjoy the preserve in the pot, 
the cheese in the rack, or the pie in the pantry. In 
the country it will ransack the cupboard, live in the 
barn, or colonize in our ricks. Still, in all these cases, 
the store and provision of man are its delight, and its 
only resource; and it will even quit a residence which 
is abandoned by its provider. It is true it maintains 
the same love of liberty as its celebrated ancestor is 
reported to have done ; but the simplicity of manners 
and taste of the sage, the “ hollow tree, the oaten 
straw,” have been abandoned ; it has become pleased 
with household comforts, and a luxurious citizen in its 
appetite. 
The rat (mus rattus), too, perhaps, may be united 
with these companions of mankind. Not knowing it 
in an independent state, we cannot say what its resources 
might be, but so sagacious and powerfully endowed 
an animal could always provide for its own necessities ; 
yet it prefers our provision to any precarious supply 
from its own industry. In summer it partially quits our 
dwellings, the heat and dryness of our buildings be- 
coming irksome to it, and the occasional difficulty of 
obtaining water, in which it delights, prompts it to re- 
sort to hedges and banks for a certain period ; but it 
always returns when our barns are filled, and ready 
for it. 
The house fly (musca carnaria) is another creature 
that appears domesticated with us ; in some seasons a 
very numerous, and always a very dirty inmate. It as- 
sociates in our windows at times with a similar insect 
