144 BROWN RAT. Class I. 



till about forty years ago.* It has quite extir- 

 pated the common kind wherever it has taken 

 its residence, and it is to be feared that we shall 

 scarcely find any benefit by the change ; the 

 Norway rat having the same disposition, with 

 greater abilities for doing mischief, than the 

 common kind. This species burrows like the 

 water rat, in the banks of rivers, ponds and 

 ditches ; it takes the water very readily, and 

 swims and dives with great celerity; like the 

 black species, it preys on rabbets, poultry, and 

 all kind of game, and on grain and fruits. It 

 increases most amazingly, producing from four- 

 teen to eighteen young at a time, and breeds 

 three times in the year. Its bite is not only 

 severe, but dangerous, the wound being im- 

 mediately attended with a great swelling, and is 

 a long time in healing. These rats are so bold, 

 as sometimes to turn upon those who pursue 

 them, and fasten on the stick or hand of such as 

 offer to strike them. 



M. Brisson describes this same animal twice 

 under different names, p. 170 under the title of 

 le rat du bois ; and again, p. 173 under that of 

 le rat de norvege. M. de Buffon stiles it le 

 Surmulot ; as resembling the mulots, or field 



seventeen 



This species reached the neighborhood of Paris, about 

 iteen years ago, or about the year 1750. 



