14 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



means is not well known, to take them away, inso- 

 much that the wild cats and many dogs that lived 

 on them were famished.' There was universal joy at 

 the sudden removal of such destructive vermin; and 

 the all but despairing planters were enabled once 

 more to resume their neglected occupations with spirit 

 and energy. 



Much more recently, rats became such a plague 

 in the sugar-plantations of the West Indies, and 

 especially in Jamaica, that the East Indian mungoos 

 a fierce, weasel-like civet was introduced. This ani- 

 mal cleared out the rats, but speedily became in other 

 directions such a nuisance that its destruction had 

 to be effected in order to save the poultry and birds 

 of the Island. 



Eats often damage corn in cribs. Too fre- 

 quently these receptacles for grain are built 

 close to the ground, and rats live under the 

 floor, and soon get access to the grain. They 

 shell the corn, eating the softer part of the 

 kernel and wasting much more than they con- 

 sume. They carry the grain to subterranean 

 burrows and bring up into the crib moist soil, 

 which induces mold. Similarly they eat the 

 small grains in the field and take toll of the 

 granary and feed-box, often 5 to 10 per cent. 



