ZOOLOGY-MAMMALS. 
85 
in case their house is demolished.* I tore down several, hut could not by that means obtain 
any of the rats, though, from the warmth of their nest, they had evidently just left it. This 
nest is composed of fine grass, hark, and leaves, is about large enough to fill a hat, and placed 
near the middle of the building, about a foot above the ground. By means of galleries and 
openings like windows in the sides of the pile, they watch the approach of danger from their 
nest without being seen. 
I succeeded in shooting several rats at last, by burning down their houses, and watching for 
them as they came out. They would stay till the last moment—often until they were much 
singed. If another nest was near, they ran for it; if not, ascended the nearest tree, and sat 
stupidly gazing at the destruction of their home, dazzled by the blaze. 
I also caught some in a steel trap, baited with biscuit, of which they seemed very fond. 
They are mostly nocturnal in habits, but sometimes come out in the daytime, when all around 
is quiet, and then fall a prey to the numerous hawks that are watching for them and the 
squirrels. This wood rat lays up large stores of acorns, &c , in hollow trees, and has been 
known to kill, and carry to this retreat, a whole broad of chickens. It is. however, not very 
troublesome to the farmer, and never makes its residence in houses. 
All that I obtained from their nests were males, and in no nest did I find more than two 
together. The females probably have a nest in hollow trees, where they produce their young, 
as I was told that they were sometimes driven out with the young clinging to them, as do those 
of the wood mouse. A hunter told me that when encamped near these rats’ nests, he once had 
a large quantity of ship biscuit stolen by them, and for a long time he suspected the Indians of 
the theft, until he thought of searching the premises of his four-legged neighbors, where he 
found the whole of the plunder carefully piled away. 
I found these rats quite active up to the 1st of December, and their hybernation is short, if 
any, in the lower valleys. 
Size .—Hose to tail, 9 inches; tail, 8 to ; circumference at root, 1 inch. Hind foot, fl¬ 
inches ; fore foot to elbow, 2|. Ear, 1 inch long, 1| wide. Head, 2\ inches long. 
NEOTOMA OCCIDENTALS, Cooper. 
Bush-tailed Rat. 
Neotoma occidentalis, (Co >per MSS.,) Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, April, 1855, 335. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 496. 
Neotoma drummondii, Aud. & Bach., N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 223 ; pi. xxix. 
Sp. Ch. —Size of Norway rat. Fur harsh. Tail densely hairy, the vertebras as long or longer than the body, exclusive of 
the head. Color above, broadly grayish lead color, the basal wool but little lighter. Posterior third of soles furred. Body 
above, brownish plumbeous, with a slight mixture of yellowish brown. Under parts of body and tail, with feet, bluish white. 
The “wood rat,” as it is called near the coast, inhabits the wooded regions west of the 
Cascade mountains, but is more abundant in some places than others. I did not hear of it at 
Puget’s Sound, where I inquired for it. At the Cascades of the Columbia I was first told 
of such an animal, and am inclined to think it prefers the mountains rather than a level 
country, like that at the Sound and Vancouver. At Shoalwater bay, in July, 1854, I first 
obtained a specimen. Having occasion to sleep in a log house, at the foot of some high hills, 
the owner told me that the wood rats were very troublesome to him, eating everything vege¬ 
table they could get at, and carrying off articles that they could not use. The bouse being 
uninhabited most of the time, we found on entering that they had made a nest on the bedstead, 
* An Australian rat of a different genus is described as building houses of the same kind.—( Hapalolis conditor, Gould ) 
