186 PARTRIDGES 



estimates that a young doe rat of three 

 months old, giving birth on the 1st January 

 to a litter of thirteen, the average number, 

 and thereafter repeating the process every 

 six weeks, can, within the span of a single 

 year, potentially be responsible for no 

 less than 35,044 descendants. Should we 

 take the actual increase to be but one- 

 fortieth of the potential, it remains quite 

 obvious that only the universal action of 

 the whole country can rid us of this pest. 



We have dwelt at some length on the 

 general aspects of the rat problem, apart 

 from the more technical point of view 

 as affecting game only, because we hold 

 that in this respect we game-preservers 

 are in no small degree responsible to 

 agriculture. 



We have taken it upon ourselves to 

 destroy the natural enemies of the rats, 

 which enemies, but for the unremitting 

 warfare we wage against them, would 

 exist in enormous numbers and serve to 

 restore the balance of nature, keeping the 

 rats within some limits. This may be an 



