To most people the majority of small rodents are classed as “rats” or “mice” and are viewed with the prejudice born of long familiarity with those omnipresent pests, the house rats and mice. The small beasts of field and forest are commonly of remotest kinship to these repulsive household parasites and are of entirely different lineage, having nothing in common but their size. ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE AKIN TO MAN’S When viewed with unbiased attention, these little animals of the wilds are certain to charm the observer either by their beauty and grace or by their varied and interesting habits. No one can long study mammals, large or small, without observing many traits of intelligence so akin to his own that they awaken feelings of friendly fellowship. The modes of life of small mammals are much more varied than those of the larger species. At times radical differences in habits may be noted among different individuals of the same species, as instanced by the wood-rats of Santa Margarita Island, some of which live in burrows dug by themselves in the ground and others in nests built of sticks in the tops of mangroves rising amid the waters of a lagoon. An even more extraordinary variation is shown among the heavy-bodied meadow-mice of the genus _Phenacomys_, most of which live in underground burrows; but one member of the group in Oregon builds its nests in the tops of tall conifers, sometimes at an altitude of 80 feet, and rarely or never descends to the ground. PEEPS INTO FUR-FOLK HOMES The homes of small mammals vary greatly. The species living in underground burrows usually excavate an oval chamber which is filled with fine vegetable material to form a snug retreat. The muskrat places a conical lodge on the border of a marshy stream or lake. The wood-rat lives in an underground burrow, in a nest of sticks and trash heaped above the ground or in a stick nest placed among the branches of low trees. Harvest mice build a little hollow ball of grass blades, lined with finer material, among the branches of bushes several feet above the ground. White-footed mice may lodge in a knot-hole 50 feet or more above ground in the trunk of a tree. As a rule, small mammals are of inconspicuous colors which harmonize so well with their surroundings that when not in motion, especially if lying close to the ground, they are difficult to distinguish. Exceptions to this rule are obvious in the case of jack-rabbits when standing on bare plains, or other mammals which are apart from the usual partly concealing growth of vegetation or other surroundings.