THE BROWN RAT 55, 



Rats must be classed as one of the most suecessful of all groups 

 of animals, and this success is due, in larg-e measure, to their abil- 

 ity to adapt themselves readily to their surrounding's. Not only do 

 they exist under seemingly adverse conditions, but they breed and 

 multiply. 



This is the common rat found about barns and houses in the coun- 

 try and about warehouses, markets, and wharves in cities. It is 

 supposed to be of Asiatic origin, but its status in this respect has 

 not been definitely determined. It is knov/n that the species 

 reached England from the east about 1729, having probably mi- 

 grated thence from northern Asia, and it was first reported in Paris 

 in 1750. It was introduced into the United States, probably from 

 England, about 1775, where, in spite of many attempts at control 

 and extermination, it has increased in distribution as well as in 

 numbers. J. A. Spurrell of Wall Lake, Sac county, writes as fol- 

 lows in regard to the first occurrence of this species in that county : 

 ' ' The first gray or barn rat came from New York in the spring of 

 1858 in a box of goods. It escaped and was trapped the following 

 fall. Barn rats were next reported in 1868." 



Since the brown rat is usually transported in ships, it often be- 

 comes first established in a new locality at seacoast towns and from 

 thence works its way inland. Audubon and Bachman report the 

 brown rat as not having reached the Pacific Coast in 1851, but Baird, 

 in 1857 says, "At the present time, however, it is very abundant 

 there [on the Pacific Coast] as far north as the Columbia River. "'^ 

 Other writers have thought that this rat appeared in certain Cali- 

 fornia cities even before 1851. At any rate, within a period of ap- 

 proximately eighty years, this pest became pretty generally dis- 

 tributed over almost the entire United States. 



Habits, Distribution, Etc. — The brown rat is one of the most 

 abundant rodents in the state. It usually breeds more rapidly than 

 it is destroyed ; and such places as stables, warehouses, creameries, 

 sewers, and markets where its food is abundant are often swarm- 

 ing with the pests. Refrigerating plants, cars, and ships also harbor 

 them ; and cases have been reported of vessels carrying refrigerat- 

 ing plants which had not been subject to fumigation for a long 

 time, in which the animals had grown an extraordinary coat of fur, 

 which served as a protection against the extreme cold. 



«Pac. R. R. Reports, VI, General Report, 439, 1857. 



