GNAWJNG ANIMALS — RODENTS 129 



put til em together into a great cage to keep them 

 alive till the morning, that the gentleman might see 

 them, when the Norway rats killed the black rats 

 immediately and devoured them in my presence/^ 

 Pennant, in his ' British Zoology,^ 1812, says : 

 " Among other officers, his British Majesty has a 

 ratcatcher, distinguished by a particular dress, 

 scarlet embroidered with yellow, worked on which 

 are figures of mice destroying wheat sheaves/^ 



The Brown Rat. 



This is the species commonly known as the rat in 

 England in the present day, but according to Waterton, 

 it was brought to England from the Continent in 1688 

 with other things which he cordially detested, namely, 

 Hanoverian kings. But this date is by some thought 

 to be a little too early. However, as soon as the 

 brown rat arrived in this country he at once set to 

 work to exterminate his less powerful relations, whom 

 he found located here. 



The average brown rat measures about nine inches, 

 taking head and body together, and the tail is about 

 seven and a half inches. They vary, however, con- 

 siderably in size, some old bucks attaining much 

 larger proportions. The colour of the fur, which is 

 coarse and hard, is usually greyish-brown above and 

 greyish-white below. 



His courage and intelligent versatility are remark- 

 able. He will eat all things, animal and vegetable, and 

 his digestive apparatus will find sustenance therein for 

 his hardy and enduring body. In consequence of his 



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