14 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
means is not well known, to take them away, inso- 
much that the wild cats and many dogs that lived 
on them were famished.’ There was universal joy at 
the sudden removal of such destructive vermin; and 
the all but despairing planters were enabled once 
more to resume their neglected occupations with spirit 
and energy. : ‘ 
Much more recently, rats became such a plague 
in the sugar-plantations of the West Indies, and 
especially in Jamaica, that the East Indian mungoos— 
a fierce, weasel-like civet—was introduced. This ani- 
mal cleared out the rats, but speedily became in other 
directions such a nuisance that its destruction had 
to be effected in order to save the poultry and birds 
of the Island. 
Rats often damage corn in cribs. Too fre- 
quently these receptacles for grain are built 
close to the ground, and rats live under the 
floor, and. soon get access to the grain. They 
shell the corn, eating the softer part of the 
kernel and wasting much more than they con- 
sume. They carry the grain to subterranean 
burrows and bring up into the crib. moist soil, 
which induces mold. Similarly they eat the 
small grains in the field and take toll of the 
granary and feed-box,—often 5 to 10 per cent. 
