170 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



Rutland 19 writes of the New Zealand bush-rat : " Considering 

 the vast numbers of these rats that periodically congregate round 

 the homes of settlers in the bush, the mischief done by them is 

 extremely small. This is owing to their food during the time 

 being green vegetables. In kitchen gardens they are certainly 

 annoying, devouring peas, beans, cabbages, and even onions, as 

 they appear above ground, climbing up poles to nip off the shoots 

 of the vines, etc." 



Of Sydney Island Arundel 2 ascribes a partial animal diet to 

 them, writing : " Before any settlements are formed they live in 

 the ground and roots of trees, and subsist on young birds, birds' 

 eggs, seeds, etc. As soon, however, as anyone comes to live on 

 an island they gather round the settlement, particularly round 

 the native quarters, natives being, as a rule, rather wasteful in 

 their eating, and scattering round about them rice, bread, pieces 

 of fish, etc." 



If the native rat preceded the human inhabitants of the atolls, 

 the pandanus, being indigenous, would probably be its staple 

 food, and as the cocoanut, breadfruit, arrowroot, etc., were intro- 

 duced, the rat would acquire a taste for these articles. 



As to its nesting habits the accounts are somewhat varied, 

 Peale describes it as constructing a nest in the tussocks of grass, 

 and making shallow burrows like an Arvicola. He describes 

 Mus vitiensis as being a great pest in most of the houses of the 

 Fiji Islands, making its nest in the thatched roof. Being an 

 excellent climber it sallies forth at night in such numbers as to 

 be exceedingly troublesome. Gill 9 relates an instance of a pair 

 having made a nest within a mummy conserved in a cave. 



Of Caroline Island Dixon 8 writes: "The brown rat has a 

 foot-hold, but is not numerous. Their nests were made in the 

 cocoanut trees, just at the base of the fronds." Our colleague 

 understood that it nested in similar situations in Funafuti. 



In New Zealand, too, Rutland 19 records how nests, evidently 

 of rats, were found in the crowns of tree ferns and also under the 

 roots of trees and among rushes. This writer describes the rats 

 as being awkward on the ground but extremely active when 

 climbing trees, ascending with the nimbleness of flies and running 

 out to the very extremities of the branches. Hence, he adds, 

 " when pursued they invariably make to trees if any are within 

 reach." Peale mentions a similar habit in connection with 

 the rats recorded by him. 



In Tonga, Mariner 16 describes it as being an inhabitant of the 

 bush, writing : " Every now and then the natives make a 

 peculiar noise with the lips, like the squeaking of a rat, which 

 frequently brings them out of the bushes." 



In Mangaia, as mentioned by Gill, 9 and as previously recorded, 

 rats inhabited the mountain fern, whence they were occasionally 



