116 THE RAT, 



having two large cutting teeth in each jaw, like the 

 hare kind ; as covered with hair, and not ruminating. 

 These distinctions might doubtless serve to guide us, 

 had we not too intimate an acquaintance with this 

 noxious race to be mistaken in their kind, 



THE GREAT RAT. 



The animal best known in England at present, and 

 in every respect the most mischievous, is distinguished 

 by the name of the great rat ; this rapacious creature is 

 by some Naturalists supposed to have been a native of 

 Norway, but is now known to have been brought from 

 the Levant, and was first landed upon the coast of Ire- 

 land in those ships that traded in provisions to Gibral- 

 tar. 



The great rat, which is called the surma lot by Mr. 

 BufFon, is about nine inches in length ; its eyes are 

 large, black, and fierce ; and the colour of the head 

 and body a light brown, mixed with a tawny ash : the 

 end of the nose, belly and throat, of a dirty white, 

 and the tail is as Jong as the rest of the body. It is 

 chiefly in the colour that this animal differs from the 

 black or common rat, which, from superior strength, it 

 has now contrived completely to extirpate ; but* it is 

 not against the black rat alone that this creature's ra- 

 pacity is directed, but towards every animal it can get 

 within its power. Poultry, rabbits, and game, all fall 

 victims to this sanguinary foe ; and, as it swims and 

 dives with the greatest facility, fish and frogs * be- 



* It is said that this great rat has been the. total destruction of all frogs 

 iu Ireland ; and that none of the species are at present to be found, though 

 they had been carried into that country for the purpose of ridding the 

 fields of insects, and rendering the watecs more wholesome. 



