62 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX. 



Mus decumanus, Pall. HANOVERIAN, BROWN, OR NORWAY 



RAT. 



This pest, although placed amongst our native animals, 

 did not make its appearance in England until the earlier part 

 of the eighteenth century, when it was doubtless brought 

 hither by merchant vessels from some southern country. 

 Pennant says it came from the East Indies, and he remarks 

 with prophetic intuition : "It has quite extirpated the common 

 kind (Mus rattus] wherever it has taken up its residence, and 

 it is to be feared that we shall scarcely find any benefit from 

 the change, the Norway Rat having the same disposition as, 

 but greater abilities for doing mischief than, the common 

 kind." At the time when the name " Norway Rat " was first 

 applied to it, this rat was not known at all in that country. 

 It was called the Hanoverian Rat from its having arrived in 

 this country about the same time as the first Hanoverian 

 sovereign. This, no doubt was a witticism of our Jacobite 

 predecessors. 



Its fecundity, cunning, and omnivorous habits enable it 

 to defy all efforts for its extirpation, and the destruction 

 wrought by game-preservers on so-called " vermin," by exter- 

 minating its natural enemies, facilitates its continuous 

 abundance in many districts. In the light soils of the neigh- 

 bourhood of Colchester, every hedge has its colony, especially 

 where the game is strictly preserved. 



In many places around the Essex coast, there exist con- 

 siderable portions of land, sufficiently raised to be above 

 ordinary high tides, but covered periodically with the sea. 

 These spots, called " saltings," are frequently occupied by 

 colonies of the Hanoverian Rat, as are also those detached 

 pieces which form islands, and which are often named " rat 

 islands " from this circumstance. How the occupants of 

 these islands subsist is almost a mystery, for the only vegeta- 



