THE RATS AND MICE 



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came to fetch them, to find none but brown rats remaining, these cannibals having 

 cruelly devoured all their sable brethren. ' ' 



Rats are practically omnivorous in their diet, devouring every kind of human 

 food with avidity, and inflicting untold damage on the henroost, the dovecot, and 

 the rabbit warren. Their devastations to corn ricks, or to grain stored in in- 

 sufficiently-protected granaries, are too well known to need more than passing 

 mention. Not only will they, as in the instance recorded above, prey on their 

 cousin the black rat, but they will likewise slay and devour members of their own 

 kind which have been caught in traps or otherwise disabled. In robbing poultry 

 houses, it is a well-ascertained fact that rats will convey the eggs in an unbroken 

 condition for considerable distances, although it is not yet known how this diffi- 



THE BI,ACE: RAT. 

 (Two-thirds natural size.) 



cult feat is accomplished. The partiality of these animals for fish is well known, 

 but that they will occasionally catch young eels for themselves has been only 

 recently discovered. Mr. Harting adds that snails both land and fresh-water 

 also form a part of their diet; while on the seacoast they will eat prawns and other 

 crustaceans. 



The prolific nature of the brown rat is little short of marvelous, and thoroughly 

 accounts for its enormous numbers when in favorable situations. Several litters are 

 produced annually, each of which generally contains from eight to ten, and some- 

 times as many as twelve or fourteen young; and a female rat will breed when only 

 half grown, although the number of its progeny is then but three or four at a birth. 

 When these animals obtain access to small islands inhabited by sea-birds or rabbits, 

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