BY KE. PALMER, M.L.A. 195 
have been uninhabitable ; even as it was, while the plague lasted, 
they were a source of great annoyance and loss to the settlers. 
The rat, whose description seems most nearly to approach that 
of this indigenous rat, is the brown rat (Mus decwmanus), said to 
be imported into Europe from the north of Asia. It is similar 
also to it inits habits, being a ground animal given to burrowing, 
wherever it cannot appropriate any burrows or cracks already 
made. It is of a greyish brown colour, not much more than six 
or seven inches long in the body, with a short thick bare tail 
three inches long; the fur is close and short, the body thick and 
strong, the ears short and stitf. These rats are nocturnal and om- 
nivorous, at times even carnivorous, very partial to fat or meat, 
and even devouring one another,* 
As a consequence of such an abnormal state of things as the 
sudden increase in numbers of a particular animal, changes are 
also produced affecting other animals associated with them in the 
same district. The balance of nature has to be kept in some 
way or other; and if a race of animals increases at a very rapid 
rate, unless disease checks its growth, another race to prey upon 
these will appear on the scene; soit was in the present case. 
In conjunction with the increase of rats, an almost correspond- 
Ing increase in their natural enemies—native dogs, snakes, 
hawks, and owls occurred. Snakes became very numerous, a 
large brown snake in particular was to be met with any day 
*This rat of periodical occurrence is not to be confounded with another 
animal which is a permanent resident of the country, and known as the 
bushy-tailed “rat.” This is a much more interesting little fellow, a 
lively, handsome, delicate formed animal, with erect rounded ears and 
wide spreading whiskers. The fur is softer, the eyes large and more 
expressive, the whole animal smaller with the exception of the tail, which 
is longer than the body, and ends with a tuft or brush of long black hairs. 
It is essentially a climbing animal, and very rapid in all its motions. 
It comes into the houses and sometimes makes its nest in a box of books 
or clothes, cutting everything to pieces. Moreover, it is not very com- 
mon nor anywhere numerous. Both of these varieties of so-called rats 
seem to be indigenous to Australia, as they are familiar to the blacks, 
who, however, recognize the difference between them. 
