BRITISH MAMMALS 



the traps, poison, and other devices invented for its destruction. 

 Whether recent legislation making it compulsory for owners of 

 property to clear their premises of these mischievous creatures, will 

 prove effective or not, remains to be seen. 



The annual amount of damage caused by the consumption and spoiHng 

 of all kinds of food and stores by Rats is beyond calculation, apart from 

 the destruction caused by their gnawing and burrowing propensities, 

 which enable them to undermine the structure of houses and other 

 buildings. 



In a httle book entitled Rats and Mice as the Enemies of Mankind 

 (2nded. 1920), by M. A. C. Hinton, printed by order of the Trustees of the 

 British Museum, an appalling account is given of the loss annually caused in 

 Great Britain by Rats, which is put as high as ^15,000,000 by some 

 authorities. 



The fleas infesting Rats are the chief cause of the spreading of plague 

 and other diseases, as these insects carry the bacillus from the infected animals 

 to man, so the danger to health is quite as serious as the material loss. 



Possessed of great cunning and intelligence as well as courage, the old 

 and experienced Rat is seldom outwitted, but the half-grown young will 

 often crowd into a trap when once one has entered. 



Though sometimes coming out in the daytime, the Rat is chiefly 

 nocturnal in habits, and, as twilight approaches, may be seen leaving 

 his underground retreat in search of a meal, when nothing edible escapes 

 attention. 



He flourishes in large cities as well as on uninhabited islands off our 

 coasts, where he subsists on shell fish or garbage thrown up by the sea. 



The female produces several Utters in the year, about thirteen or fourteen 

 young being born at a time, which accounts for the rapid increase of the 

 animal. 



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