26 



islands to keep 12 traps set. In spite of all efforts the animals 

 continued to increase, until finally they disappeared so suddenly 

 that they must have been victims of a pestilence." 



FOOD OF EATS. 



Instead of being strictly herbivorous, as might be inferred from 

 their dentition, rats are practically omnivorous. 



The bill of fare of the rat includes grains and seeds of every kind, 

 flour, meal, and all food products made from them; fruits and gar- 

 den vegetables; mushrooms; bark of growing trees; bulbs, roots, 

 stems, leaves, and flowers of herbaceous plants; eggs, chicks, duck- 

 lings, squabs, and young rabbits; milk, butter, and cheese; fresh 

 meat and carrion; mice, rats, fish, frogs, mollusks, and crustaceans. 

 This great variety of food explains the ease with which rats maintain 

 themselves in almost any environment. 



FEEDING HABITS. 



Rats resemble squirrels in the manner of holding food while eat- 

 ing. As soon as they have separated a small portion of food from a 

 larger mass, they sit up, arching the back and holding the morsel 

 in the paws and turning it as a squirrel does. After eating, they 

 brush the mouth and fore parts, including the whiskers (vibrissae), 

 with the paws until all are clean. Rats drink much water, a habit 

 often taken advantage of in placing traps or poisons for them. 



Rats generally feed after sunset, but in places where they are not 

 often disturbed they come out and feed in broad day and even in the 

 sunshine. 



The roof rat and the black rat are more expert climbers than the 

 brown rat, which is larger and clumsier. In buildings, the brown 

 rat keeps mainly to the cellar and lower parts, where it commonly 

 lives in burrows. From these retreats it makes nightly excursions 

 to the upper parts of the house in search of food. The roof rat and 

 the black rat live in the walls or in the space between ceilings and 

 roofs. They nest in any of these places. 



Rats readily climb trees to obtain fruit. In the Tropics the roof 

 rat and the black rat habitually nest in trees and spend much of 

 their time in these arboreal retreats, while the brown rat makes only 

 occasional excursions into the branches in search of food. 



In the open, rats seem to have defective vision by daylight. They 

 move slowly and uncertainly. On the contrary, at the side of a room 

 and in contact with the wall they run with great celerity. This 

 fact suggests that the vibrissse serve as feelers and that the sense 

 of touch in them is extremely delicate. The animals always prefer 

 narrow spaces as highways — another circumstance which may be 

 made use of in placing traps. 



"Popular Science Monthly, vol. 12, p. 376, January, 1878. 



