THE BROWN RAT 



utilised the contrivances of the inventor ; but in 

 spite of poison, traps and cats, it holds its ov^n. 



The amount of damage done to the human race 

 in a financial sense by this rat, amounts to hundreds 

 of millions sterling annually. Unlike most other 

 animals which destroy the fruits of Man's industry, 

 the Brown Rat renders no service in return. It 

 not only preys upon his food-stuffs, and damages 

 various of his products, but it is a veritable sower 

 of the seeds of death in communities of men, for 

 it has been proven that the flea which lives on this 

 rat is the creature which infects man with a fatal 

 malady. Rats are subject to Bubonic Plague, and 

 the fleas, biting an infected rat, transfer themselves 

 to healthy rats and infect them. When a rat dies 

 of Bubonic Plague, all its flea parasites abandon it, 

 and should any of them get upon a man and bite 

 him, they inoculate him with the microbes which 

 cause Bubonic Plague. We therefore have two 

 powerful motives in waging unceasing warfare 

 against this rat until we succeed in exterminating it. 



The indictment against it is by no means com- 

 pleted. It is an omnivorous feeder, and not only 

 devours all the kinds of food-substances provided 

 by man, but it destroys his chickens and the young 

 of various pets, such as rabbits. It is also a terrible 

 enemy of the wild birds, which, with few excep- 

 tions, are of the utmost possible value to us in our 

 war against the army of noxious insects which are 

 ever seeking to overwhelm us. 



Ill 



