554 USE OF THE BROWN RAT. 
rebuilt, no particular care need be taken tq shake the Rats out of the sheaves, for, as they 
are thirsty animals, they will be forced to leap from the stack in search of water, and then 
will not be able to return. 
Mice can subsist in a stack by means of the rain and dew which moisten the thatch, 
and may be often seen licking the straws in order to quench their thirst. But the Rats 
are less tolerant of thirst, and are forced to evacuate their premises. When mice and Rats 
are found inhabiting the same stack, the former animals reside in the upper parts, and the 
Rats in the lower. 
Poultry of all kinds suffer sadly from these carnivorous creatures, which have a custom 
of invading the henroosts by night, and making prey of the fowls as they sit quietly 
sleeping on their perches. Birds are always indisposed to move during the hours of 
darkness, so that the cunning rodent finds no difficulty in carrying out its destructive 
intentions. Rabbit-fanciers have great cause to be indignant with the Rat, for when it 
once gains access to the hutches, the safety of the entire stock is in imminent danger. 
The only way to secure the survivors is to remove them at once to some spot which is 
made Rat-proof. Much of the damage which is done by Rats is laid upon innocent 
shoulders, the fox and the weasel being the ordinary scape-goats. 
The audacity of these animals is really wonderful, especially when they have enjoyed 
an unmolested life. They have been known to enter a stable and nibble the horn 
away from the horses’ hoofs, or to creep among dogs as they lay sleeping, and gnaw 
the callous soles of their feet. They have even been known to attack sleeping infants, and 
to inflict fearful damage before they were detected in their crime. The metropolitan 
butchers execrate the Rats very sincerely, as they are forced to remove every joint of 
meat as soon as their business is over for the day, and hang it up in some place which is 
so well protected that not even a Rat can gain access. Indeed, the black list of their 
misdemeanors is so extremely long that even a rapid enumeration of their crimes would 
more than occupy the entire space devoted to one animal. 
Rats are not without their use, especially in large towns, which but for their never- 
failing appetites would often be in very sad case. Taking, for example, the metropolis 
itself, we find that the sewers which underlie its whole extent are inhabited by vast hordes 
of Rats, which perform the office of scavengers by devouring the mass of vegetable and 
animal offal which is daily cast into those subterranean passages, and which would 
speedily breed a pestilence were it not removed by the ready teeth of the Rats. So 
that, when kept within proper bounds, the Rat is a most useful animal, and will continue 
to be so until the drainage of towns is conducted in a different manner. 
How to keep them to their own proper dominions is no easy task, as their sharp teeth 
can cut through almost any obstacle, and have been known even to grate away the corner 
of a particularly hard brick. It is found, however, that if these tunnels be stopped up 
with mortar or cement well studded with pieces of broken glass, they will not venture 
their teeth against such a barrier. Moreover, if a few table-spoonfuls of quick-lime be 
placed in the hole before it is stopped up, it will deter the Rats from coming in that 
direction, as the lime burns their feet. 
Catching them in traps is by no means so easy a process as it appears to be, as the 
Rat is a yery crafty animal, and is moreover vifted with so acute a nose that it can 
perceive the touch of a human hand upon a trap, and will keep aloof from so dangerous 
an article. In order to set a trap properly, it is needful to avoid touching it w ith the 
bars hand, and to wear thick gloves powerfully scented with aniseed, carraway, or 
other powerfully-smelling substance. Even in that case, the successful chase of the Rat 
requires such an accurate knowledge of the animal’s habits, and needs so many precautions, 
that it is almost impossible for an amateur to be permanently successful in that line. 
Although the Sewer and the Barn Rats belong to the same species, they are very 
different in aspect as well as in habits, the former being very much larger than the latter, 
and much fiercer in disposition. The Sewer Rats remain in their strange habitations 
during their whole lives, while the Barn Rats are in the habit of making annual migrations 
as soon as the spring season commences, some betaking themselves to the fields and hedge- 
rows, while others take up their abode on the river- banks, where they commit sad havoc 
among the fish. 
