88 \VII.D I.IFI: ix xj-:w ZEALAND 



odour of dead rats. The average weight of a full-grown specimen 

 is about 2 oz. The fur on the upper portion of the- bodv is dark 

 brown, inclining t<> black ; on tin- lower portion white or greyish- 

 white. They run awkwardly and slowly on the ground, but run 

 very quickly on the trees. When suddently startled or pursued 

 they cry out with fear. The extremely few females that occur 

 amongst the countless hordes is a fact that shows that, if breed im: 

 does take place at all during these periods of travel, it must l>e on 

 a very limited scale." 



I think a probable partial explanation of this problem is that 

 only the males migrate, while the females, which are produein_ r 

 young at that very season the beginning of spring remain in 

 their usual haunts. 



" They do little da magi-, their food being Linen vegetables. 

 Though they enter dwellinghouses and barns, it is evidently not 

 in quest of food, as shown by corn and other eatables l>cinLr left 

 untouched by them." Rutland adds, "Among Knglish country 

 people, who have the best opportunity of observing them, it is 

 commonly asserted that in litters of young rats rhe males produced 

 outnumbered the females by about seven to one." 



Meeson describes a plague of rats in 1SS-I : " Nelson and Marl- 

 borough in other words, the whole of the extreme northern portion 

 of the South Island of New Zealand is enduring a perfect in- 

 vasion. Livini! rats an- sneaking in every cornel', scuttling aCTOSS 

 every path; their dead bodies in various stages of decay, and in 

 many cases more or less mutilated, strew the roads, fields, and 

 gardens, pollute the wells and streams in all directions. What 

 ever kills the animals does not succeed in materially diminishing 

 their numbers. Young and succulent crops, as of wheat and j> 

 are so ravaged as to lie unfit for and not worth the trouble oi 

 cutting and harvest in<_r. A young farmer the other day killed 

 with a stout stick two hundred in a couple of hours in his wheat 

 field." AmoiiLT reasons suggested for the visitation he siigL't'^ts the 

 pressure of famine: "Last summer was very wet. and last winter 

 very cold; the amount of snow lying on the hii:!i lands in 

 interior was very great. Another is the excessive InoreaW in num- 

 bers. producing an intense struirLrle for existence." It is thus 

 that his conclusion-, are somewhat different from those readied by 

 Mr. Rutland, who did not think that humjer WM an impelling 



