He does not live in and around the homes of men, like the
Brown Rat, but he causes a great deal of damage by stealing grain
in the shock. He eats all kinds of grain, many seeds, and meat
when he can get it. He is very destructive to eggs and young of
ground-nesting birds. He has a bad temper and will fight savagely.
Mr. and Mrs. Cotton Rat raise several large families in a year.
Foxes, Owls and Hawks are their chief enemies.
"But there are other members of the Rat family far more interesting
and quite worth knowing. One of these is Trader the Wood Rat, in
some parts of the Far West called the Pack Rat. Among the mountains
he is called the Mountain Rat. Wherever found, his habits are much
the same and make him one of the most interesting of all the little
people who wear fur.
"Next to Jerry Muskrat he is the largest native Rat, that is, of
the Rats which belong in this country. He is about two thirds as
big as Robber the Brown Rat, but though he is of the same general
shape, so that you would know at once that he is related to Robber,
he is in all other ways wholly unlike that outcast. His fur is
thick and soft, almost as soft as that of a Squirrel. His fairly
long tail is covered with hair. Indeed, some members of his branch
of the family have tails almost as bushy as a Squirrel's. His coat
is soft gray and a yellowish-brown above, and underneath pure white
or light buff.
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