221 



The nests of many ground-nesting and other song birds are robbed 

 by rats. Crows, jays, snakes, and skunks are blamed for most of 

 the destruction and the actual offender seldom suspected. While 

 the other animals named do part of the mischief, the rat is a more 

 serious foe of song and game birds than any of these. 



FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



A well-known form of damage by rats is the destruction of fruits 

 and vegetables in cellars and pits. Apparently no garden vegetable 

 or common fruit is exempt from attack. But the rat does not con- 

 fine its depredations to stored fruits and vegetables. It attacks ripe 

 tomatoes, melons, cantaloupes, squashes, pumpkins, sweet corn, and 

 many other vegetables in the field; and often the depredations are 

 attributed to rabbits or other animals, which may or may not be 

 concerned in the mischief. 



Rats are fond of the small fruits, eating not only the fallen but 

 chmbing vines and canes to obtain the ripe grapes or berries. They 

 eat also apples, pears, cherries, and other fruits. The brown rat, 

 while not so expert as the black or the roof rat, readily climbs trees 

 and obtains fruit even at the extremities of the branches. 



Among tropical fruits injured by rats are oranges, bananas, figs, 

 dates, cocoanuts, and especially the pods of cacao {TTiedbroma cacao), 

 from which chocolate is manufactured. H. N. Riddey, writing of 

 his experiences on the island of Fernando do Noronha, South America, 

 mentions the destructiveness of rats in this penal colony. They 

 climb the cocoanut palms and papaw trees to devour the fruit, and 

 do mischief in melon patches. To lessen the evil, each convict was 

 required to bring in a certain number of dead rats, and battues were 

 held monthly to satisfy the requirement. Sometimes the number 

 killed in a single hunt reached 20,000." 



Fruits and vegetables grown under glass are subject to injury by 

 rats. The animals usually find entrance to greenhouses by way of 

 openings for pipes or drains. 



FLOWERS AND BULBS. 



Rats attack seeds, bulbs, and the leaves, stems, and flowers of 

 growing plants, whether in the greenhouse, propagating pits, or else- 

 where. Of flowering bulbs, the tulip suffers most from rats. Hya- 

 cinths also are eaten; but, probably because they are slightly poi- 

 sonous, narcissus and daffodil bulbs escape injury. Rats eat pinks, 

 carnations, and roses, cutting the stems off clean. They denude 

 geraniums of both flowers and leaves. They attack the choicest 

 blooms of chrysanthemums and carnations in markets, stores, and 



exhibition rooms, causing heavy losses^ ^^_ 



a Zoologist, vol. 46, p. 46, 1888. 



