174 CIVIC BIOLOGY 



Damage annually caused by rats has been figured for several 

 countries as follows : 



Denmark . ... . . . . ' . ... $3,000,000 



France . .. . . 40,000,000 



Germany . . . . . : ' . . . . 50,000,000 



England ....... ~. . . . 73,000,000! 



United States 100,000,000 2 



This estimate of $100,000,000 worth of grain is based on the 

 amount actually eaten by rats, and Lantz maintains that they 

 destroy and pollute " fully as much as they consume." But a 





FIG. 83. Common. brown rat and mouse 

 Photograph by the author 



damage tax of $200,000,000 levied annually on cereal crops 

 is by no means the whole story. The poultry industry yields 

 $600,000,000 annually, and rats take an enormous toll of eggs 

 and young chicks. " I have known them to take nearly all 

 the chicks on a large poultry ranch, and in the same neighbor- 

 hood and over a large territory, to destroy nearly 50 per cent 

 of the season's hatching " (Lantz). The writer learned of an 

 instance of a large rat killing and carrying away an entire 

 brooder lot of over two hundred newly hatched chicks in a 

 single night. Ducks, turkeys, pigeons, game, and song birds 



1 Great Britain and Ireland, rural damage, and does not include losses 

 in towns and cities and that inflicted upon shipping. 



2 For destruction of grains only. 



