CHAP. Will. ] 



i '1 HER ANIMALS. 



217 



correspondents and others who report dai "rats" and 



ask for remedies. The habits of the vario in often 



nt and must be taken into account in devising or carrying 

 out any measures for control. It is, for example, little use to attai k 

 a rat, which is burrowing in field-bunds, in order to trj and check 

 damage which is actually being d< different species which 



is living and nesting in the tops oi palm-trees. In selecting a 

 suitahlc bait lor laying dow n poison or tor use in traps, due 1 

 must be paid to the habits and economy of the particular species 

 concerned. In any case the control of damage to crops by 

 by no means easy, fraps are usually out of the question on a 



I with tin bands to ] 

 up. 



ibing 



1 ale and control meth< onsequently limited to exclu- 



sion, fumigation and poisons. Inthei coconut 



palms it is sometimes possible to exclude the rats from access by 

 nailing downwardly-sloping bands of tin around the trunk, care 

 being taken that access is not 1 >ntiguous or 



adj. n cut trees, bushes or buildings. In tl •! burrowing 



n i- sometimes practicable to fumigate the rat 

 poisons and in such cases it is as well to go over the ground pre- 

 and mark and stop loosel) with earth all burrows tl 

 (I. those which are subsequent!) reopened being presumably 



