THE SMALL-MAMMAL PROBLEM 747 



Firstly, we must learn to deny unnatural shelter and food 

 supplies to small mammals. Secondly, we must not give 

 them an unnatural security from their enemies in the open 

 country. 



All new buildings in town or country should be of rat-proof 

 construction ; especial attention should be given to buildings 

 destined to house great quantities of foodstuffs. Among 

 existing buildings, those which are rat-ridden should either 

 be disinfested and repaired, or else they should be demolished. 

 Many a house at present infested could be cleared of rats and 

 mice, and made practically safe from further invasion were two 

 or three drains properly sealed, or a broken ventilator or so 

 repaired. " Shelter " and " food," of course, must be construed 

 liberally ; for the dump of rubbish standing for years on a piece 

 of waste ground, or the unguarded sewer and its filthy contents, 

 may provide small mammals with both palatial accommodation 

 and regal fare. At all times special attention should be given 

 to the protection of human food supplies, to stables and other 

 places in which domestic animals or their foodstuffs are kept, 

 and to the collection and disposal of garbage. There are 

 many ways of protecting cornstacks and the like from the 

 attacks of rodents, and the adoption of one or other of such 

 means should be insisted upon. 



The effects of all such preventive measures should be 

 carefully watched and studied. As described above, many 

 modern buildings, successfully resisting the attacks of R. 

 norvegicus from below, have been invaded by R. rattus 

 from above. Had the telephone cables been provided with 

 rat guards, no trouble with R. rattus would have ensued. 

 At every step, therefore, we must be on the alert, lest in 

 shutting the door to one species, we open a way for another. 



Although we can and should protect such things as farm 

 buildings and cornstacks, it is impossible to make the open 

 fields rat or mouse proof And if we were able to do such 

 a thing, it might be very far from advantageous to attempt 

 it. But Nature has provided the best means of keeping the 

 rodent population in control in the open country — a means 

 which will not fail us if we do not seek its destruction, and 

 if we do our part by denying, as far as may be, all unnatural 



