LESSON XLVIII.

THE GNAWERS.[89]

“And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling,And out of the homes the rats came tumbling:Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,Cocking tails and pricking whiskers!”

“And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling,

And out of the homes the rats came tumbling:

Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,

Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,

Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,

Cocking tails and pricking whiskers!”

—R. Browning,Pied Piper.

In our chapter on the whales we have given examples of the fourth in our list of the mammalian orders. The manatee stood as the representative of the next named order, that of the sirenia. Then came the order of the insect-eaters, or insectivora, and little Mr. Talpa, the mole, was described, though perhaps he is not more interesting than his relations, the shrews and the hedgehogs. The seventh order in our list is that of the wing-handed creatures, which is occupied entirely by the bats, with their first cousins, thevampires and flying foxes. These animals might have been set with the edentata, if they had not indulged in the peculiarity of wings.

Our eighth order is the rodentia, or gnawers. No order of animals is better known, or has more common examples. Hark! in the stillness of the house at night you may hear a rush and a scuttle through the walls, or a fine nibble in a corner; these sounds proclaim the presence of two very unpopular rodents, the rat and the mouse.

As I was sitting one day last summer in the shelter of a great rock, a little animal appeared from a maple wood some hundred yards distant, and with long hops came over the hillside towards me. When about thirty yards from me, he stopped—he had just discovered me. This was our most beautiful rodent, the large gray squirrel. I concluded that bright as his eyes are he could not see so far as I could, or he would have noticed me when he came out of the wood. A little while after, as I still sat silent and motionless, another beautiful rodent came from an adjacent tree, and, deceived by my stillness and the color of my linen gown, he came and sat down on the hem of the gown, and holding himself erect on his haunches began to eat a nut. This last was the pretty chipmunk, wearing a reddish coat, and having black velvet stripes down his back.

In introducing these four animals, I have already indicated the creatures to be found in the order of rodents, or gnawers. One of its most famous and ancient members, the beaver, we have already described in a chapter by himself. The order of gnawers is one of the most extensive of the mammalian class. All of its members are small, or ofmoderate size. They are distinguished by having only two kinds of teeth, incisors, or cutting teeth, and molars, or grinding teeth.

The incisors, generally two or four on the front of each jaw, are long, stout, and curved. They are covered with enamel on the front only, and so the back part of the tooth wears away faster than the front part, and thus constantly preserves a sharp, knife-like edge, which is as serviceable as the best tempered chisel in cutting any kind of wood. The incisors never wear out. They grow from the base just as fast as they wear off at the tip.

The rodents are furry, four-legged animals, with nails or claws upon their toes. They have large bright eyes, sharp, well-set ears, and all their senses are very acute. They are also distinguished for intelligence, and generally for amiable dispositions. Among them are to be found the rat, mouse, squirrel, rabbit, hare, musk-rat, dormouse, jerboa, chinchilla, porcupine, ground pig, marmot, and many others. The porcupine and his family offer an exception to the other rodents in wearing quills among the fur.

The rodents differ widely in their homes; some, as the squirrels, live in trees; others in forms or lairs on the ground, as rabbits and hares; some, as the beaver and musk-rat, are chiefly aquatic. The rodents also differ in their mode of life. The squirrels, rabbits, hares,[90]and some of the mice, work and eat by day and sleep at night; others, as the rats, guinea-pigs, and porcupines, are principally nocturnal animals, coming forth from their homes about sunset.

In general the rodents feed on roots, vegetables, seeds, nuts, bark, leaves, or fruit; but some of them, as the rats, are fond of meat, and indeed devour anything in the shape of food, and are as ready to eat carrion as fresh diet.

All rodents are easily tamed, and are often kept in captivity. Rabbits, squirrels, and guinea-pigs have always been favorites as pets; even the rats and mice, in their white specimens with red eyes, have not been despised.

THE NIBBLERS.

The rodents include some animals with valuable fur, as the gray Siberian squirrel, and the chinchillas of the Peruvian and Chilian mountain ranges. The rodents are generally very prolific, and to the great number of their progeny is due their continuance, in despite of the multitudes of them killed every year by their enemies. The hunter, withhis trap and gun, seeks the rodents for fur or for food; hawks, vultures, and owls prey upon them; dogs, cats, and foxes constantly lie in wait for them. Rats also fight among themselves, and prey upon each other, for the victor feasts upon the vanquished. Rats are also hunted for their skins, as thousands of dozens of kid gloves have been first on the backs, not of kids, but of rats.

As instances of the rapid increase of rodent families we may note that the mother rat has several litters of young each year, and ten or twelve at a litter. The fieldmouse has twelve little ones a year, but all of the same litter.

The harvest mouse is the smallest and perhaps the prettiest of all the rodents. Its back is tan color, brightening on the sides and legs, while all the under part of the body is snow-white and silky. It is not much over an inch long, has bright eyes, and a long, hairy tail; it lives upon grain, and constructs one of the prettiest of nests for a home. Laying together, with their long leaves, three or four stalks of wheat, oats, or barley, the harvest mouse weaves of grass and leaves a round, beautiful nest, about as large as that of a titmouse. The nest is shaped like a ball, and has a small opening on one side. In this nest the tiny mother places her little ones. She climbs up the wheat stems by means of her sharp claws, but comes down as one slides down a rope, holding on by one hand. This round nest is the summer home of the harvest-mouse. By the time the grain is ripe, some wise instinct teaches her to remove her household to a new dwelling. She either makes a burrow in the ground, or builds a nest in a corn-crib or hay-rick.

Another curious mouse is called the economic mouse, because it lays up grain and seeds for winter use. In this it resembles certain other rodents, as the beaver, which lays up a store of bark, the squirrel, which hoards nuts, and the hamster, which lays up grain, beans, peas, and seeds. Sometimes fifty or a hundred pounds of grain and dried seeds have been taken from the burrows of these animals. The squirrels, and the “pouched,” or earth-rats, are provided with cheek pouches for carrying home their winter store of provisions. Others convey their booty in their mouths.

I had at one time a pair of chipmunks, which made their home in the foundation wall of my house. A row of wild cherry trees stood near the lawn, and I found that the chipmunks laid up a large store of the cherry pits, making many journeys daily to and from the trees, and carrying off in their cheek pouches a number of pits each time.

The season was dry, and one morning I had poured a pitcher of water over some plants near my porch, when one of the chipmunks passed among them on his way to the cherry trees. He stopped, sat on his haunches, took one of the wet leaves in his hand, pressed the sides together to make a trough for the moisture, and holding it to his mouth drank the water in the most comical fashion possible. He drank from five or six leaves, while I stood watching him. When he went his way, I filled a large saucer with water and placed it near the plants. This was presently discovered, and both my little chipmunks hereafter drank and washed regularly at this dish.

I made a practice of testing these pretty little fellows’knowledge of nuts. When I gave them cracked hickory nuts, they at once sat down, picked out the meats, and ate them. Cracked nuts were evidently not fit for storage. Sitting on their haunches, holding the cracked nuts to their mouths with their hands and using their incisors for nut-picks, these creatures were a pretty sight. When I gave them whole nuts, they tested them, evidently by weight, to see if they were sound. Sound nuts were promptly carried to the storehouse; poor nuts were dropped. I never knew these animals to make a mistake. I cracked the rejected nuts, and never found one of them good.

When walnuts or other hard-shelled nuts that have been emptied by squirrels are examined, and the cleanness and accuracy of the cutting is noted, we get some notion of those beautiful cutting tools, the incisors. Likewise the wood chiselled by the beaver bears witness to the excellence of the tools bestowed upon this order of animals.

The gnawers are found in most parts of the world; the deep snows of Siberia are tracked by the agile feet of the squirrel, the hamster, and the economic mouse. Cold Norway has hordes of rats, as well as squirrels and rabbits. Italy is the only country free from the ravages of the fieldmouse. In English gardens the dormice love to make their homes. Rats and mice live wherever men live. Africa possesses the sand rat and the brilliant mole rat, which wears a scarlet coat shining with the iris tints of the rainbow. The jerboas, with their short fore legs, and their curiously long hind legs, jump about in Tartary, Russia, and the African forests. South America has a monopoly ofchinchillas and guinea-pigs. The porcupine is an inhabitant of three-quarters of the globe. Once the beaver built its dams and burrows over nearly all North America, and now every woodland abounds in squirrels and rabbits; almost every river-side has its musk-rats; every barn and nearly every house is infested with rats and mice. Thousands of hares are every winter brought into the English markets. In fact, wherever you go you can hear the busy teeth of the rodents, gnawing their way through the world.

FOOTNOTES:[89]Chapters48,49, and50give but brief glimpses of numerous well-known mammals. The object has been merely to call attention to peculiarities of structure and other points of interest, and thus encourage the pupil to seek more extended information in larger works.[90]Hares are given to wandering about at night, and porcupines often feed and travel by day.

[89]Chapters48,49, and50give but brief glimpses of numerous well-known mammals. The object has been merely to call attention to peculiarities of structure and other points of interest, and thus encourage the pupil to seek more extended information in larger works.

[90]Hares are given to wandering about at night, and porcupines often feed and travel by day.

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