Children's own library . ing, paper, shav-ings, and everything that the ingenious little architectcan scrape together. It is a round mass, looking some-thing like a rag ball very loosely made. When opened,seven or eight little Mice will probably be found in theinterior — little pink transparent creatures, three ofwhich could go into a ladys thimble, sprawling aboutin an unmeaning manner, apparently greatly distressedat the sudden cold caused by the opening of theirnest. A white variety of Mouse is tolerably common, andis usually bred in cages. As it is very tame andbeautiful, it is in some rep
Children's own library . ing, paper, shav-ings, and everything that the ingenious little architectcan scrape together. It is a round mass, looking some-thing like a rag ball very loosely made. When opened,seven or eight little Mice will probably be found in theinterior — little pink transparent creatures, three ofwhich could go into a ladys thimble, sprawling aboutin an unmeaning manner, apparently greatly distressedat the sudden cold caused by the opening of theirnest. A white variety of Mouse is tolerably common, andis usually bred in cages. As it is very tame andbeautiful, it is in some repute as a pet. The Harvest Mouse is very much smaller than theordinary mouse. Its nest is raised about a foot anda half from the ground, and supported on two or threestraws. The nest is made of grass, about the size ofa baseball. The Water Rat is very common on banks of rivers,brooks, etc. It does not eat fish ; but gnaws the greenbark from reeds, which it completely strips, leaving themark oi each tooth as it BEAVERS AT WORK. fc: 66 woods natural history The Beaver. North America is the principal countrywhere the Beaver is found, but it is also to be found onthe Euphrates, and along some of the larger Europeanrivers, as the Rhone and the Danube. The houses of the Beaver are built of mud, stones,and sticks. They are placed in a stream, and theirentrance is always below the surface. As a severefrost would freeze up their doors, it is necessary tomake the stream deep enough to prevent the frostfrom reaching the entrances. This object is attainedby building a dam across the river, to keep back thewater until it is sufficiently deep for the Beavers pur-poses. The dam is made of branches which the Beavercuts down with its strong, sharp teeth, and mud and stonesworked in among the branches. The Beavers throwthese branches into the water, and sink them to thebottom by means of stones, and by continually throwingin fresh supplies a strong embankment is soon made. The mud an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidchildrensown, bookyear1910
