256 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
decided to try my hand in the eastern forest at Perinet (3,000 
feet). Fortunately, through the Forestry Department I was able 
to get the loan of a comfortable wooden shack right in the heart 
of the forest, which was ideally situated for collecting. 
The most widely spread indigenous rodent is the Tufted-tailed 
Rat, which is a purely forest-dwelling creature with squirrel- 
like habits. It is about the size of the common brown rat, but has 
a soft sleek coat and very long tail which, as its name implies, is 
tufted at the end. 
This was one of the first creatures I caught, and with beginner’s 
luck I trapped a couple of the elusive Mole-like Tenrecs—a crea- 
ture with mainly subterranean habits, about which little was 
known. Better still I caught a Pygmy Tenrec (Microgale melanor- 
rachis) that was new to science. It had a distinct black dorsal 
stripe, unlike any of the previously described Microgale. 
Trapping the small nocturnal mammals of the Madagascar for- 
ests is much more difficult than one would imagine. In the first 
place there is little evidence of their existence, and tracking them 
down calls for great patience and careful search. Furthermore, 
the common Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and a race of the 
common Black Rat (Rattus r. frugivorus) have been introduced, 
probably through the agency of rat-infested ships, and have multi- 
plied at an alarming rate. The eastern forests are now swarming 
with them, even in the most isolated regions where the precipitous 
nature of the country is unfavorable to human habitation. These 
foreigners, well able to adapt themselves to any new conditions, 
are extremely prolific, and unlike the native rats have large broods 
all the year round. Their savage instincts are no doubt responsible 
for the rapid diminution of the indigenous species. 
In setting traps for the Tufted-tailed Rats, I estimated that they 
were outnumbered by about twelve to one by the imported species. 
This meant that the latter not only got caught in traps set for 
other things, but even when I was fortunate enough to catch some- 
thing rare I frequently found it partly eaten by one of these pests. 
As far as the Tufted-tailed Rats were concerned I circumvented 
this by setting my traps, attached to pieces of cord, on branches, 
so that the action of its going off, and of the rat doing its dying 
kick, dislodged the trap, thus suspending it with the captive safely 
