MICE AND RATS. 



199 



quantities of corn, beans, peas, and other kinds of agricultural 

 produce ; and, as it is extremely prolific, it often inflicts serious 

 injury. When provisions fall short, it migrates, sometimes in 

 large bodies, to a more favourable station ; and when settled in 

 a place where its supply of food is ample, rapidly increases to 

 an astonishing extent." 



On board ship Rats are, if possible, a greater nuisance than 

 on shore, as all can testify who have had the misfortune to sail 

 in a Rat-haunted vessel. Sometimes they will even enter the 

 cabins and gnaw the toe-nails of the sleepers down to the quick, 

 if their feet happen to be uncovered. Ivory would not at first 

 sight appear a very tempting kind of food for Rats. Neverthe- 

 less, according to the testimony of Frank Buckland, these 

 animals do much damage to the tusks stored in the docks. As 

 they select for their attacks those which contain the largest 

 amount of animal matter, and as such are the most suitable for 

 the purposes of the manufacturer, a Rat-gnawn tusk is sure to be 

 one of the finest quality. 



It has been mentioned above that Rats will suck the eggs of 

 poultry, and it is also well known that in many cases this is not 

 done in the hen-house, but the eggs are bodily removed to 

 safer quarters. How this removal is accomplished has not, 

 however, at present been ascertained. Mr. Trevor- Battye 

 writes to me : — " Rats move eggs along the ground by rolling 

 them against their chests. How they move them unbroken 

 from a height I have never been able to find out. The only 

 Rat I ever had a chance of obtaining at this form of depredation 

 dropped the egg and broke it." That these animals can display 

 considerable ingenuity in overcoming mechanical difficulties is 

 proved by an anecdote related by Mr. T. W. Kirk, of the 

 Wellington Museum, New Zealand. In this instance two Rats 

 combined their efi'orts in order to get a four-inch biscuit 

 between the bars of a building which were only two inches 



