Ground Vermin Town Rats. 401 



rabbits, or hares which may fall into their clutches. Taking 

 all these things into account, the rural rat is certainly not 

 the least obnoxious of the vermin we have discussed. 



The town rat, though no less destructive and mischievous, 

 has one or two redeeming qualities. Not that they are 

 sufficient to warrant any protection of the animal ; but it 

 is only fair to remark that, were it not for the countless 

 number of rats, larger in size and fiercer in nature, which 

 inhabit the sewers of the metropolis and other cities, the 

 drainage system upon which we pride ourselves would 

 be found of little avail to carry off the various substances 

 other than actual drainage which continually, from one 

 cause or another, find their way into the sewers, and that 

 for the disposal, or rather consumption, of these, we are 

 wholly indebted to rats. But, and there is always a but 

 to facts of this kind, when individual rats are not content 

 to confine themselves to the sewers, but penetrate to the 

 higher drains, and eventually, by dint of perseverance, 

 work through into our houses, allowing gases of a deadly 

 nature to penetrate our dwellings, then the case is very 

 different. For all this and a great deal more are the 

 vermin responsible, and for our part, we see no reason 

 why we should not destroy all the rats outside the sewers, 

 and restrict those that are within to the precincts beyond 

 which they are an insufferable nuisance. 



The rat is peculiarly adapted by nature to accomplish 

 an enormous amount of mischief, and at the same time 

 to avoid the danger likely to accrue from its boldness. 

 For its size it is wonderfully fleet, and its fleetness is 

 assisted by unusual agility. For descending surfaces having 



