CHAPTER XXXVL 



GROUND VERMIN: Rats. 



THERE is little doubt that of late years the worst vermin 

 with which the generality of preservers have had to con- 

 tend has been the rat. It has increased largely in 

 numbers, and in some districts become quite a plague 

 despite the extraordinary efforts made to deal with its 

 ever-increasing depredations. It is unnecessary to specu- 

 late upon the probable cause of this remarkable increase. 

 It is due entirely to the neglect of farmers, preservers, and 

 others to adopt adequate means to deal with the pest. 

 The means for combating the evil exist, if only they were 

 regularly and systematically applied. Spasmodic effort 

 is of little permanent benefit; it must be sustained 

 to achieve material result. It is the common Brown 

 Rat with which it is necessary alone to deal in these 

 pages, the Black Rat having become so scarce nowadays 

 as to be practically extinct as far as game-preserves 

 are concerned. Individual specimens, and even two or 

 three, crop up from time to time, but their occurrence 

 is so rare that nothing more than passing reference to this 

 species is required. 



The common Brown Rat is too well known to require 

 much description ; but a few salient points in connection 

 with its natural history may be brought out with advan- 

 tage, as even so everyday an animal may possess traits and 

 habits unknown to the ordinary observer; whilst being 



