554 



USE OF THE BROWN RAT. 



rebuilt, no particular care need be taken to shake the Rats out of the sheaves, for, as 

 they are thirsty animals, they will be forced to leap from the stack in search of water, 

 and then will not be able to return. 



Mice can subsist in a stack by means of the rain and dew which moisten the thatch, 

 and may be often seen licking the straws in order to quench their thirst. But the Rats 

 are less tolerant of thirst, and are forced to evacuate their premises. When mice 

 and Rats are found inhabiting the same stack, the former animals reside in the upper 

 parts, and the Rats in the lower. 



Poultry of all kinds suffer sadly from these carnivorous creatures, which have a 

 custom of invading, the henroosts by night, and making prey of the fowls as they sit 

 quietly sleeping on their perches. Birds are always indisposed to move during the 

 hours of darkness, so that the cunning rodent finds no difficulty in carrying out its 

 destructive intentions. Rabbit-fanciers have great cause to be indignant with the Rat, 

 for when it once gains access to the hutches, the^safety of the entire stock is in imminent 

 danger. The only way to secure the survivors is to remove them at once to some spot 

 which is made Rat-proof. Much of the damage which is done by Rats is laid upon 

 innocent shoulders, the fox and the weasel being the ordinary scape-goats. 



The audacity of these animals is really wonderful, especially when they have enjoyed 

 an unmolested life. They have been known to enter a stable and nibble the horn 

 away from the horses' hoofs, or to creep among dogs as they lay sleeping, and gnaw 

 the callous soles of their feet. They have even been known to attack sleeping infants, 

 and to inflict fearful damage before they were detected in their crime. The metropolitan 

 butchers execrate the Rats very sincerely, as they are forced to remove every joint of 

 meat as soon as their business is over for the day, and hang it up. in some place which 

 is so well protected that not even a Rat can gain access. Indeed, the black list of 

 their misdemeanors is so extremely long that even a rapid enumeration of their crimes 

 would more than occupy the entire space devoted to one animal. 



Rats are not without their use, especially in large towns, which but for their never- 

 failing appetites would often be in very sad case. Taking, for example, the metropolis 

 itself, we find that the sewers which underlie its whole extent are inhabited by vast 

 hordes of Rats, which perform the office of scavengers by devouring the mass of vege- 

 table and animal offal which is daily cast into those subterranean passages, and which 

 would speedily breed a pestilence were it not removed by the ready teeth of the Rats. 

 So that, when kept within proper bounds, the Rat is a most useful animal, and will 

 continue to be so until the drainage of towns is conducted in a different manner. 



How to keep them to their own proper dominions is no easy task, as their sharp 

 teeth can cut through almost any obstacle, and have been known even to grate away 

 the corner of a particularly hard brick. It is found, however, that if these tunnels be 

 stopped up with mortar or cement well studded with pieces of broken glass, they will 

 not venture their teeth against such a barrier. Moreover, if a few tablespoonfuls of 

 quick-lime be placed in the hole before it is stopped up, it will deter the Rats from 

 coming in that direction, as the lime burns their feet. 



Catching them in traps is by no means so easy a process as it appears to be, as the 

 Rat is a very crafty animal, and is moreover gifted with so acute a nose that it can 

 perceive the touch of a human hand upon a trap, and will keep aloof from so dangerous 

 an article. In order to set a trap properly, it is needful to avoid touching it with the 

 bare hand, and to wear thick gloves powerfully scented with aniseed, caraway, or 

 other powerfully-smelling substance. Even in that case, the successful chase of the 

 Rat requires such an accurate knowledge of the animal's habits, and needs so many 

 precautions, that it is almost impossible for an amateur to be permanently successful 

 in that line. 



Although the Sewer and the Barn Rats belong to the same species, they are very 

 different in aspect as well as in habits, the former being very much larger than the latter, 

 and much fiercer in disposition. The Sewer Rats remain in their strange habitations 

 during their whole lives, while the Barn Rats are in the habit of making annual migra- 

 tions as soon as the spring season commences, some betaking themselves to the fields 

 and hedgerows, while others take up their abode on the river-banks, where they com- 

 mit sad havoc among the fish. 



