. The book of the animal kingdom. Mammals. Mammals. 224 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM not ten yards away from the Parrot-house, yet they never come into this building. Here Mice take their place. How is this? The Rats have probably found out that it is no use going there; they would get nothing for their trouble, for they could not get through the bars of the birds' cages to get at the seed; the little Mice, on the contrary, who, as all well know, are great seed-eaters, with ease run in and out between the wide bars of the Parrots' cages, and help themselves to both seed and water. They have
. The book of the animal kingdom. Mammals. Mammals. 224 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM not ten yards away from the Parrot-house, yet they never come into this building. Here Mice take their place. How is this? The Rats have probably found out that it is no use going there; they would get nothing for their trouble, for they could not get through the bars of the birds' cages to get at the seed; the little Mice, on the contrary, who, as all well know, are great seed-eaters, with ease run in and out between the wide bars of the Parrots' cages, and help themselves to both seed and water. They have found out that, although the great Cockatoo has such an enormous and formidable- looking bill, it won't hurt them, and that Mr. Cockatoo is not a carnivorous bird. When, therefore, these gaudy denizens of the tropics have finished their day's screaming and 'pretty pollying,' out pop the little Mice, taking tithe of all the seed-boxes they can get at. Having finished their meal they retire behind the hot-water pipes which run round the room, and with full stomachs lie lazily in their warm and comfortable quarters alongside the pipes till they are hungry again. No wonder, therefore, they obey the law ' increase and multiply.' ". Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Westell, William Percival. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton
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License: Licensed
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmammals, bookyear1910
