200 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description, manners, &c. 



plied so excessively, and is so very strong and 

 voracious, as to form no acceptable substitute. 



The length of this animal is about nine inches ; 

 the colour of the head and the upper part of the 

 body is of a light brown, mixed with tawny; the 

 throat and belly are of a dirty white, inclining to- 

 grey; and the legs are of a dirty flesh colour. 

 The eyes are large and black ; the rail is covered 

 with minute dusky scales, mixed with a few short 

 hairs; and the general figure is disgusting. 



In Ireland thse rats have very nearly de- 

 stroyed the whole race of frogs; which the inha- 

 bitants were somewhat anxious to preserve, in- 

 order to clear their fields of insects, and render 

 their waters more salubrious. While the frogs 

 continued in great numbers, the rats also multi- 

 plied; but since the latter are deprived of this 

 considerable part of their subsistence, they also 

 are become much less numerous. 



During summer, they reside chiefly in holes 

 n the banks of rivers, ponds, and ditches ; but 

 on the approach of winter they visit the farm- 

 houses, and enter the corn-ricks and barns, where 

 they devour much of the corn, and damage con- 

 siderably more than they consume. They have 

 haunts in the walls and about the floors of old- 

 houses, where they frequently destroy the furni- 

 ture ; and they have even been known to gnaw 

 the extremities of infants while asleep. They 

 are also excessively destructive to eggs, poultry, 



