Chap. 2. 



QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT. 



43 



THE BLACK UAT. 



THE COMMON MOOSE. 



no means ss bad as the scoundrels of a 

 higher order of being's, who, endowed 

 with superior powers of intelligence, and 

 enjo3'ing the advantages of education, do 

 still act as if they possessed all the vil- 

 lainous qualities of the rat, without being 

 able to otfer a similar apology for their 

 conduct. Among quadrupeds iJiis rat 

 may be considered as occupying the same 

 rank as the crow does among birds. He 

 is one of the most impudent, troublesome, 

 mischievous, wicked wretches that ev- 

 er infested the habitations of man. To 

 the most w\\y cunning be adds a fierceness 

 and malignity of disposition tiiat frequent- 

 ly renders him a dangerous enemy, and a 

 destroyer of every living creature he can 

 master. He is a pure thief, stealing not 

 only articles of food, for which his hun- 

 ger would be a sufficient justification, but 

 substances which can be of no possible 

 utility to him. When he gains access to 

 a library he does nut liesitate to translate 

 and appropriate to his own use the works 

 of the most learned authors, and is not so 

 readih' detected as some of his brother pi- 

 rates of the liuman kind, since he does 

 not carry off his prize entire, but cuts it 

 mto pieces before he conveys it to his 

 den. He is, in short, possessed of no one 

 quality to save him from being universal- 

 ly despised, and his character inspires no 

 stronger feeling than contempt, even in 

 those who are under the necessity of put- 

 ting him to death.'"* 



THE BLACK RAT. 



Mas rattus. — Lin.v. 



Description. — Head elongated ; snout 

 pointed; lower jaw very sliort; eyes 

 large and projecting ; ears naked, large, 

 broad and nearly ovate ; whiskers long; 

 five flat toes on the hind feet, and on the 

 fore feet four, witli a nail representing a 

 tliumb ; lateral nails, both behind and be- 

 fore, very short ; tail nearly naked, and 

 furnished with scales disposed in rings, 

 amounting in some cases to 250; color 

 cinerous black, ligliter beneath ; whiskers 

 Wack ; top of the I'eet covered with small 

 white hairs ; mammas 12. Length of tlie 

 head and body 7 inches, tail 7.5 inches. 



History. — It seems to be a matter of 

 some doubt whether this Rat is indige- 

 nous in this country or was introduced 

 from Europe. But whethe introduced, 

 or indigneous, it is certain that they were 

 very numerous here before the introduc- 

 tion of tlie preceding species, it is stated 

 by Dr.Williamst that neither the Norway 

 rat, nor the Black rat, was known in Ver- 



* Natural Hi.<tory Vol. 2.— page 78. 

 t History of Vermont, Vol, 1, p. 113. 



mont till some time after the settlement 

 of the state was commenced, but that, 

 when he wrote, they had become quite 

 common. The Norway or Brown rat is 

 now the common rat in all the older pauts 

 of the state ; and yet it is but a few years 

 since it was said that none of these rats 

 had ever been seen in the county of Or- 

 leans. 



THE COMMON MOUSE. 

 J\Ius inusculus. — Linn. 



Description. — Color, dusky gray above 

 and ash gray beneath; forehead, reddisii; 

 whiskers, slender, numerous and black ; 

 feet, white ; nails, reddish witli white 

 points; tail, round, sparsely covered with 

 ver/ short hairs, and tapering from the 

 insertion to the extremitjr ; ears large. 

 Total length about seven inches, of which 

 the tail constitutes one half. A variety 

 of this mouse which is wholly white is 

 irequently met with in the neighborhood 

 of lake Chaiuplain, on both sides of the 

 lake, and another variety, less common, 

 is white spotted with black. 



History. — This miscliievous little crea- 

 ture, like the preceding, did not exist in 

 North America at tJie time of the discov- 

 ery of this continent by the Europeans, 

 but finding its way over in ships, in bales 

 of merchandize, »fcc., by its great fecun- 

 dit}^ it filled tiie country with a rapidity 

 equal to the advancement of the new set- 

 tlement, and is now very common through- 

 out all the settled parts of the continent. 

 This mouse takes up his residence chiefly 

 in houses, barns and granaries, where he 

 is often exceedingly troublesome, and 

 does much mischief. He is very apt to 

 find his way into cellars and pantries, of- 

 ten by gnawing holes through boards, and 

 he is sure to nibble every kind of eatable 

 that falls in his way. On this account, 

 and on account of the peculiar odor which 

 he communicates to the places wliicli he 

 frequents, the mouse, though a beautiful 

 and sprightly creature, is every where re- 

 o-arded with disgust. The mouse builds 

 Tts nest very much like that of a bird, 

 lining the inside with wool, cotton or oth- 

 er sot't materials. It brings forth young 

 several times during the year, and has 

 from 6 to 10 at a litter, so that its multi- 

 plication, when uncliecked, is exceeding- 

 ly rapid. Aristotle, in his history of ani- 

 mals, mentions that a pregnant female of 

 this species was shut up in a chest of 

 grain, and in a short time 120 individuals 

 were counted, from which it would ap- 

 pear that the mouse was as much distin- 

 guished on account of its fecundity 2000 

 years ago as it is at present. 



