190 BLACK RAT. 



Mns Rattus, Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. v., 578, 5. 

 " " Harlan, p. 148. 



" " Godman, vol. ii., p. 83. 



" " Richardson, p. 140. 



" " Emmons, Report on Quadrupeds of Massachusetts, p. 63. 



" " Dekay, Natural History of New York, vol. i., p. 80. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Head, long : nose, sharp pointed ; lower jaw, short ; ears, large, oval, 

 broad and naked. Whiskers, reaching beyond the ear. 



Body, smaller and more delicately formed than that of the brown rat ; 

 thickly clothed with rigid, smooth, adpressed hairs. 



Fore-feet, \^'ith four toes, and a claw in place of a thumb. Feet, plan- 

 tigrade, covered on the outer surface with short hairs. Tail, scaly, 

 slightly and very imperfectly clothed with short coarse hairs. The taQ 

 becomes square when dried, but in its natural state is nearly round. 

 Mammae, 12. 



"Whiskers, head, and all the upper surface, deep bluish-black ; a few 

 \\'hite hairs interspersed along the back, giving it in some lights a shade 

 of cinereous ; on the under surface it is a shade lighter, usually cinereous. 

 Tail, dusky : a few light-coloured hairs reaching beyond the toes, and 

 covering the nails. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length of head and body 8 inches. 



tail 8i do. 



The character of this species is so notoriously bad, that were we to ^^Tite 

 a volume in its defence we would fail to remove those prejudices ■which 

 are every where entertained against this thieving cosmopolite. Possess- 

 ing scarcely one redeeming quality, it has by its mischievous propensities 

 caused the world to unite in a ^vish for its extermination. 



The Black Rat is omnivorous, nothing seeming to come amiss to its 

 voracious jaws — flesh, fowl or fish, and grain, fruit, nuts, vegetables, &c., 

 ■whether raw or cooked, being indiscriminately devoured by it. It is very 

 fond of plants that contain much saccharine or oleaginous matter. 



The favourite abodes of this species are barns or granaries, holes under 

 out-houses or cellars, and such like places ; but it does not confine itself 

 to any particular locality. We have seen its burrows under cellars used 



i 



