132 COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



town and village, but such an office now seems to be 

 a matter of ancient history, and the rats find consider- 

 able freedom in their country life in the fields and 

 hedgerows. Mr. Millais records that a Cambridge- 

 shire farmer killed over 1000 rats per season by 

 simply walking along the lanes with a wire-haired 

 terrier after dark. Seventy or eighty rats per night 

 was no unusual bag and still the plague did not 

 seem to decrease, but owls, kestrels, and weasels are 

 slain and the ratcatcher is a thing of the past. 

 Nearly every country-side could tell the same story. 



The rat is extraordinarily prolific. Fresh litters 

 are born every six weeks, numbering from eleven to 

 seventeen or eighteen, the average number being 

 thirteen, and of these seven will be males and six 

 females, the number of males always preponderating. 

 Mr. Millais calculates that one rat might be responsible 

 for the birth of 35,044 rats per year. Starting with 

 her first litter on January 1st, she produces seven 

 males and six females, and she continues to have 

 a litter every six weeks, making eight litters in 

 the year, and every female rat born has a litter 

 when she is three months old. At the end of the 

 year the family would amount to this astonishing 

 number. Fortunately rats are rarely so unmolested 

 as to be able to increase at this rate. 



Though inhabiting such filthy places and feeding 

 on the foulest food, the rat is personally a very 

 cleanly animal, and takes considerable pride in his 

 toilet. Sitting up on his haunches he licks his paws 

 and cleans his face much in the same way as a cat 

 does. Owing to the foul nature of his food, however, 



