RATS, BLACK AND BROWN 229 



the shrub growing wild, and still bearing berries, though 

 of very inferior quality. Attempts seemed to have been 

 made to grow fruit also, and there were apple-, plum-, and 

 cherry-trees in some of the orchards. The plums were 

 the only ones in a flourishing condition. 



The dwellings, mostly timber-built one-storey bunga- 

 lows, were generally in an advanced state of decay, and 

 swarming with rats and other vermin, including snakes in 

 some of them. Strange to relate, the two common species 

 of European rats, the black {M. rattus) and the brown 

 {^lus decumanus\ were both seen inhabiting the same 

 houses, the black kind seeming to be in a majority. 

 However these rats may disagree in European countries, 

 the larger and stronger kind has not in Australia as yet 

 gained the mastery. I have frequently observed the two 

 kinds on the eastern side of the continent, in many parts 

 of which they are plentiful ; and though they often keep to 

 separate districts, I could never discover that there was an 

 active enmity between them ; while I learned from the 

 whalers that both kinds are almost invariably occupants 

 of their ships, where they prove a great pest. 



Ships are great transporters of rats. Long-distance 

 sailing vessels, such as whalers, which are often beached 

 for careening purposes, seize such opportunities for getting 

 rid of the majority of their rats. Planks are placed from 

 the ship to the dry land, and great drumming of tin 

 kettles, etc., is kept up below for some hours. This so 

 terrifies the rats that many of them escape from the ship 

 by means of the planks. In this way many districts of 

 Australia have been peopled with vermin in a former 

 generation, when the beaching of small wooden vessels 

 was a common practice. 



Besides the brown and the black there was also the 

 common native species ; and I also found the Queensland 

 rat {Xeromys myoides)^ thus proving that this species is 

 found right across the northern part of the continent. 



The blacks had visited all the deserted houses I passed, 

 breaking down the partitions and doors, which they had 

 carried away, probably to make their wurleys, or lean-tos. 



