Black Rat 
come across any undoubted specimens of the black rat living in 
a wild state; they are said to have been fairly common here 
before the brown rats followed them across the Atlantic. 
Young brown rats until they are nearly grown have rather 
soft slate-coloured fur, sometimes quite dark, and this together 
with their slighter build causes them to be sometimes mistaken 
for the black rat. 
Black Rat 
Mus rattus Linnzus 
Length. 15 inches. 
Description. More slender, with more pointed head, larger ears, 
and tail always as long or longer than the head and body. 
Colour glossy bluish-black above, dark-gray beneath, a few 
white hairs interspersed. Ears lighter coloured, nearly naked, 
feet pale-brownish, tail sparsely haired, scales distinct. 
Range. Cosmopolitan. Introduced into America from the Old 
World, but everywhere disappearing before the advance of 
the Norway rat, so that it is now rare, with the exception 
of a well-marked variety—the roof rat—which is well estab- 
lished in the Southern States. 
The black rat, a much less aggressive and less troublesome 
animal, was brought to America long before the Norway rat, but 
upon the introduction of the latter it rapidly disappeared, being 
apparently quite unable to cope with it, so that we now find 
the black rat only at rare intervals in remote quarters where its 
more powerful cousin has not yet established itself. The history 
of this animal in America is but a_ repetition of its experience 
elsewhere and in England to-day it is as scarce as in America. 
A variety of the black rat, native of Egypt and adjacent 
countries, has been introduced into our Southern States where it 
finds the climate congenial and where it is known as the roof 
rat. Owing probably to a difference in habits, it does not come 
into such direct competition with the Norway rat and succeeds 
in holding its own. 
Varieties of the Black Rat 
t. Black Rat. Mus rattus Linneus. Description as above. 
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