able cousin, the black rat, who is doomed to extinction the moment 

 they have invaded his haunts. 



Cannibals that they are, they devour him if he does not beat 

 a hasty retreat, but this cruelty is, after all, simply an economical 

 method of getting him out of their way, for they give the same short 

 shrift to disabled members of their own immediate families. They 

 do not, however, lack the power of combining their forces against 

 a common foe and the brown and black rats alike would muster 

 under one standard against a human enemy just as the brown 

 species unite to exterminate its next of kin. 



Apparently unable and at least unwilling to live apart from 

 civilized man, they make poorer return for their entertainment 

 than does any other animal. Not only as stray individuals do they 

 pilfer from his larder, gnaw into fragments his garments care- 

 lessly left within their reach, steal poultry and carry away eggs un- 

 broken from his henhouse, defiantly rob him of his corn and grain, 



164 



