80 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



lively antics of a tribe of mice which frequented his workroom, 

 fed at his call, and in every way recognised the friendship 

 of their benefactor. 



BLACK RAT. 



Mus rattus, L. 



An incidental allusion to this Rat, as established at Rydal in 

 1686, is furnished by an entry in the Accounts of Sir Daniel 

 Fleming: 'Dec. 13. Paid unto Thomas Loftos of Rufford, near 

 York, ratcatter — besides 2s. 6d. I am to give at Easter next if 

 he kill the rates for a year — £00, 01s. 00d.' It seems a little 

 curious that the ratcatcher should have been a stranger, because 

 at that time the Black Rat was no doubt of general distribution. 

 Yet so rapidly did this species die out in Cumberland after the 

 immigration of a stronger species, that even in 1796 it had 

 become, in the words of Dr. Heysham, ' very rare, having been 

 expelled from this country, in great measure, by the brown rat.' 



Although I have inquired for this Rat of many ratcatchers, 

 no information as to its surviving in any Cumbrian localities 

 has ever been vouchsafed. Thomas Armstrong obtained a 

 piebald specimen at Coathill on the 6th of January 1859. 1 It 

 may be inferred from this that some individuals lingered about 

 the farm-houses and cottages. Mr. H. P. Senhouse recollects 

 a small colony as existing near Cockermouth in 1876. A strict 

 search might possibly bring other occurrences to light, especially 

 in the fell districts. In Westmorland this Rat seems to have 

 existed quite recently. It was only in 1883 that Mr. J. Good- 

 child wrote, from an intimate acquaintance with the north-east 

 borders of Westmorland : ' It may not be generally known that 

 the Black Rat yet lingers in small numbers about the fell-side 

 farms in Westmoreland. It is no uncommon thing for specimens 

 of this species to be captured in the barns and outhouses, at 

 Milburn, for example ; but the species is every year becoming 

 rarer, and will doubtless soon be as entirely supplanted by its 

 foreign congener there as it has been elsewhere.' 2 



1 Zoologist, 1859, p. 6442. 



2 Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Assoc, No. viii. p. 218. 



