(July 24) during my visit in 1875. The ostler, a 
mulatto, told me that black rats were 
numerous in the stable out numbering the
gray rats. He described them as about 
half the size of the gray rat and with 
different habits. They are less destructive and
do not gnaw wood at all. They will not 
eat eggs and cannot climb as well as 
the gray rat but seem [?] more 
swiftly on level ground. They live chiefly
in a meadow behind the barn. Some 
twenty or more would can fit in post
holes dug in this meadow.
  We found Rhus copallaia sparingly
but generally distributed along the 
roadsides in Groton.
[margin]Black rats[/margin]