THE RAT KIND. 



363 



ANIMALS OF THE RAT AND HEDGEHOG KINDS. 



CHAPTER LIU. 



THE RAT KIND. 



WERE it necessary to distinguish animals 

 of the rat kind from all others, we might de- 

 scribe them as having two large cutting teeth, 

 like the hare kind, in each jaw ; as covered 

 with hair; and as not ruminating. These 

 distinctions might serve to guide us, had we 

 not too near an acquaintance with this nox- 

 ious race to be mistaken in their kind. Their 

 numbers, their minuteness, their vicinity, their 

 Fast multiplication, all sufficiently contribute 

 to press them upon our observation, and remind 

 us of their existence. Indeed, if we look 

 through the different ranks of animals, from 

 the largest to the smallest, from the great 

 elephant to the diminutive mouse, we shall 

 find that we suffer greater injuries from the 

 contemptible meanness of the one, than the 

 formidable invasions of the other. Against 

 the elephant, the rhinoceros, or the lion, we 

 can oppose united strength ; and by art make 

 up the deficiencies of natural power: these 

 we have driven Into their native solitudes, 

 and obliged to continue at a distance, in the 

 most inconvenient regions and unhealthful 

 climates. But it is otherwise with the little 

 teasing race I am now describing ; no force 

 can be exerted against their unresisting 

 timidity : no arts can diminish their amazing 

 propagation; millions may beat once destroy- 

 ed, and yet the breach be repaired in the 

 space of a very few weeks ; and, in propor- 

 tion as nature has denied them force, it has 

 supplied the defect by their fecundity. 



THE GREAT RAT. 



THE animal best known at present, and in 

 every respect the most mischievous, is the 



NO. 31 & 32. 



GREAT RAT ; which, though but a new comer 

 into this country, has taken too secure a pos- 

 session to be ever removed. This hateful 

 and rapacious creature, though sometimes 

 called the rat of Norway, is utterly unknown 

 in all the northern countries, and, by the best 

 accounts I can learn, comes originally from 

 the Levant. Its first arrival, as I am assured, 

 was upon the coasts of Ireland, in those ships 

 that traded in provisions to Gibraltar; and 

 perhaps we owe to a single pair of these ani- 

 mals, the numerous progeny that now infests 

 the whole extent of the British Empire. 



This animal, which is called by Mr. Buffbn 

 the surmalot, is in length about nine inches ; 

 its eyes are large and black ; the colour of 

 the head, and the whole upper part of the 

 body, is of a light brown, mixed with a tawny 

 and ash colour. The end of the nose, the 

 throat, and belly, are of a dirty white, inclin- 

 ing to gray ; the feet and legs are almost 

 bare, and of a dirty pale flesh colour; the tail 

 is as long as the body, covered with minute 

 dusky scales mixed with a few hairs, and adds 

 to the general deformity of its detestable 

 figure. It is chiefly in the colour that this 

 animal differs from the black rat, or the com- 

 mon rat, as it was once called : but now com- 

 mon no longer. This new invader, in a very 

 few years after its arrival, found means to de- 

 stroy almost the whole species, and to possess 

 itself of their retreats. 



But it was not against the black rat alone 

 that its rapacity was directed ; all other ani- 

 mals of inferior strength shared the same mis- 

 fortunes. The contest with the black rat was 

 of short continuance. As it Was unable to 

 contend, and had no holes to fly to for retreat, 

 but where its voracious enemy could pursue, 



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