THIEVES OF THE NIGHT 



came on here, a bigger and stronger rat, the 

 common brown rat of the present day. The 

 newcomer was not only bigger and more 

 powerful, but was more savage and blood- 

 thirsty. By one means and another it pushed 

 out the old black rats and took their places ; 

 it killed their young ones whenever it came 

 across them, it took possession of all the best 

 food supplies, so that in a short time the Old 

 English rat, from being a common everyday 

 creature found in every house and garden, had 

 become quite rare. At the present time it is 

 only found in a few seaports, where its numbers 

 are kept up by fresh arrivals from the ships, 

 for it is still the most common kind on board 

 boats. 



With the arrival of the brown rat the 

 dreadful plague ceased to sweep across the 

 country as it used to do ; for one thing houses 

 were now better built, but for another the new 

 kind of rat was not so fond of getting into them. 

 We all know to our cost that rats like to be 

 about buildings, how they thieve and steal all 

 they can, but the brown rat is not the house 

 thief that the black one was. I have already 

 mentioned how two of my tame black rats when 

 they escaped from their cage at once managed 



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