THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS 

 weeds and insects, there is yet another group of pests, 

 some representatives of which may be found in 

 every neighbourhood. It is composed of rabbits, 

 ground squirrels, prairie dogs, mice, and the like. 

 They all possess long front teeth for gnawing, and 

 constitute the Order of Rodents. Some species 

 destroy fruit trees by gnawing away the bark near 

 the ground, others attack the grain stacked in the 

 field or stored in the granary. As these little sharp- 

 eyed creatures are chiefly nocturnal in their habits, 

 we seldom see them ; we see only the ruin they have 

 wrought. In some of the American ports incoming 

 vessels are systematically fumigated to kill the rats 

 for fear they may bring with them the bubonic 

 plague. I n April, 1 898, while engaged in field natural 

 history work in Hyde County, North Carolina, I 

 found the farms along the north shore of Mata- 

 muskeet Lake were overrun by swarms of large 

 brown rats that burrowed in the ground everywhere, 

 and coming out at night wrought havoc and destruc- 

 tion on the farm lands. The whole country was up 

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