QOLUNDi. MELTADA. 213 



" They are found," says Kelaart, " in all the higher parts of the Kandian 

 provinces. They appear to be migratory ; and are not always seen in coffee 

 estates ; when they do visit the cultivated parts, their numbers are so great 

 that in one day more than a thousand have been known to be killed on 

 one estate. In clearing forests, the nests of these rats are met with under 

 the roots of trees." 



200> Golunda meltada. 



Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837. — Mus lanuginosus, Elliot, Cat. 35. — 

 Mettade of Wuddurs. — Metta yelka, Tel., of Yanadees. — Kera ilei, Can. 



The Sofx-puhked Field-eat. 



Descr. — Above reddish brown with a mixture of fawn, lighter beneath. 

 The fur fine, close and soft, with a few longer hairs projecting. Head 

 short ; muzzle sharp ; ears large ; tail shorter than body. 



Length of one, head and body 5y% ; tail 4 J^ ; ear -j^ths. 



This rat has only been found in southern India. " The mettade" says 

 Mr. Elliot, "lives entirely in cultivated fields in pairs or small societies of 

 five or six, making a very slight and rude hole in the root of a bush, or 

 merely harbouring among the heaps of stones thrown together in the 

 fields, in the deserted burrow of the kok, or contenting itself with the 

 deep cracks and fissures formed in the black soil during the hot months. 

 Great numbers perish annually when these collapse and fill up at the 

 commencement of the rains. The monsoon of 1826 having been deficient 

 in the usual fall of rain at the commencement of the season, the mettades 

 bred in such numbers as to become a perfect plague. They ate up the seed 

 as soon as sown, and continued their ravages when the grain approached to 

 maturity, climbing up the stalks of jowaree and cutting off the ear to 

 devour the grain with greater facility. I saw many whole fields complete- 

 ly devastated, so much so as to prevent the farmers from paying their 

 rents. The ryots employed the Wuddurs to destroy them, who killed them 

 by thousands, receiving a measure of grain for so many dozens, without 

 perceptibly diminishing their numbers. Their flesh is eaten by the tank- 

 diggers. The female produces from 6 to 8 at a birth." 



The physiognomy of this rat in so distinct from that of the last, as is 

 also the character of the fur and the habits, that I much doubt if they 

 ought to be included in the same group. 



