No. 4.] 



RATS AND RAT RIDDANCE. 



221 



A Burmese trap. (After 

 Biological Survey.) 



the use of extremely salt brine, and winter is the season when 

 rats are most troublesome in buildings. Sometimes rats may 

 be enticed into a deep barrel or can, such as a garbage can, and 

 if the receptacle is about 30 inches deep they cannot get out. 

 I have known three or four to be taken in a night by using a 

 heavy cardboard box about 30 inches deep and sprinkling bits 

 of meat, cheese and crumbs m the bottom. A deep garbage 

 can sunk in the earth on a rat trail, 

 'with grain in the bottom, claimed some 

 victims. 



The jar trap (see cut) is said to be 

 very successful. 



Rat Electrocution, — Metals charged 

 with electricity are said to have some 

 attraction for rats, and accounts of rat 

 electrocution have been published. Dr. 

 Rucker says that rats have been eradi- 

 cated in cold-storage warehouses by 



suspending a bait between two heavily charged overhead wires 

 at a point where the insulation had been removed. The hungry 

 animal creeping along the wires shunts the current through its 

 body, and, falling unconscious into a tub of water, is drowned. ^ 

 Rat Fence and Battue. — A movable fence or a wire netting 

 of about one-half inch mesh, or even strong cloth or canvas 

 and stakes, may be used to enclose piles of wood, rubbish, 

 shocks or stacks of grain, and the material may be shaken free 

 of rats and thrown over the fence, when the exposed rats may 

 be easily killed by dogs or by men armed 

 with clubs or wide flat shovels. Many 

 thousands of rats have been killed in this 

 manner. Rats may climb the fence, but 

 if closely followed they will not have time 

 to get out of the enclosure. 



Grain-room Trapdoor. — A large grain 

 bin or a grain room may have an opening 

 made to admit rats, which opening may be closed by a little 

 sliding door operated by a string from the outside of the build- 

 ing. In the evening, when the rats have gone in, the farmer 



1 Rucker, Wm. Colby, Public Health Reports, Vol. 27, No. 29, July 19, 1912, p. 1133. 



For grain room. 



