Black rat

“ As the black rat, at the end of his amazing lightning display, reached the barn, with his mate behind him, he leapt—he could not stop—clean over the back of one great twenty-inch, glitter-eyed brown ghoul, called by the death-scream of his colleague—other rats usually answer it—coming out of a hole. The black rats dashed into the hole like flickering streaks, but the brown rat had instantly spun upon himself, and was after them. ”

“ First went the patriarch, white about the muzzle, grizzled all over, tottering and feeble, but still of eminent distinction—the black rat does not coarsen with age—then, one by one, with fearless inconsequence, the younger ones ”

“ It seems to have driven out the black rat before it wherever it made its appearance. In England it was introduced by shipping about the middle of the last century, and has since then increased to such an extent as to swarm over the whole country, and render the old English black rat a comparatively rare animal. From its ferocity and fecundity the brown rat is a veritable pest; if it cannot beat a retreat from an enemy it will show most determined fight, and in large numbers will attack and kill even men. ”

“ The smaller black rat and roof rat formerly existed in most parts of the Old World. They preceded the brown rat also in America, but when the latter arrived were promptly reduced by it to a secondary position or exterminated. Black rats still exist in some parts of the United States, and roof rats are common with the brown rat in the milder climate of the Southern States. ”

“ This is the best time to catch them, as they are all under the floor of the building, and are very easy to catch in the night with the traps.
As a rule the Black or Drain Rats feed only in the night, very rarely in the day, as they are of a dirty nature, and prefer being in the drains. In my opinion the Black Rat is more vicious than the Brown. ”

“ The Black Rat, smaller, and now very rare, is said to have also come from Europe. We have, however, one native rat in this part of the world,—the American Black Rat—differing from the other species, and very rare indeed. ”

“ It was only a question of tiring the black sparks out, for the four brown rats in the place, engaged upon lowering the weight of the flour in the sacks—one of those rats a dreaded cannibal of twenty-one and a half inches—joined in the mobbing, and soon the black rats found themselves in such a position that there was no escape—no escape for any but a black rat. ”

“ The thumb of the forefeet is reduced to a mere tubercle.
Although the Rats have much to do with garbage and offensive matters, they take the greatest of care to maintain their own cleanliness and a spruce appearance, spending much of their time in cleaning their fur and paws. One of the reasons for regretting the possible extirpation of the Black Rat by his more pushful relative, was, no doubt, his less ferocious ways and well-known milder disposition—a trait which is obvious to any one who has handled the domesticated albino, or White Rat, which is generally considered to be of this species. ”

“ The only black rat I ever saw was a dead one, which I found one summer in an unoccupied house in the mountains of Pennsylvania. But there are plenty of beautiful little gnawers around us everywhere. There are the soft, furry, big-eyed flying-squirrels, which leave their warm nests at dusk and sail through the air from tree to tree, or romp among the branches until daylight. ”

“ The black rat is catholic as to its diet, omnivorous, and it devours every kind of human food. It is more domesticated than its congener, more devoted to human habitations, and it does immense damage to stored grain, seeds, and cereals. ”

“ Unlike the brown rat the black rat rarely migrates to the fields. It has disappeared from most parts of the Northern States, but is occasionally found in remote villages or farms. At our seaports it frequently arrives on ships from abroad, but seldom becomes very numerous. ”

“ The black rat has nearly disappeared from most of its former haunts in the United States and the roof rat is mainly restricted to southern localities with a mild climate.
Neither the brown, black, nor roof rat has any near relatives among native rats of America, and all may be distinguished from our native animals by their coarser hair and long, naked tails. ”

“ The black rat came to Northern Europe first—both of them probably being Asiatic animals—and has no doubt been to some extent replaced by the brown rat, who has been specially favoured by the modern extension of drains and sewers, which exactly suit his peculiar tastes. But each flourishes in his own environment; neither of them is adapted to the other's environment; there is no war between them, nor any occasion for war, for they do not really come into competition with each other. ”

“ Another sub-species, the Tree or Roof Rat (E. rattus frugivorus) , common in the Mediterranean region, often appears in our ports. It has long, soft and dense fur, of light grey or brown on the upper parts and whitish below (pure white to pale yellow) , and the feet usually white above.
The Black Rat is more of a climber than a burrower; more cleanly in its feeding than its brown rival. The pink-skinned young are born without fur, sight, or hearing. ”

“ Introduced into America about the year 1775, the brown rat has supplanted and nearly exterminated its less robust relative, the black rat, and despite the incessant warfare of man has extended its range and steadily increased in numbers. ”

“ The presence of three generations of this animal, in the same stack, with a great number of the Mus decumanus, speaks I think decisively against the latter species destroying them.Mr. Edward Benn, who has frequently heard of the capture of black rats with white spots on their breasts, had it always described to him as being shorter in the tail than a second species of black rat, also described to him, and which was, perhaps, Mus rattus, a specimen of which, as already mentioned, he procured for me, in December, 1842. ”

“ Where—as in India—the Black Rat lives a more out-of-door life, it climbs trees and mostly makes its nest in them. With us the doe collects a good quantity of suitable materials—rags, paper, straw, etc.—and constructs a roomy nest which she uses for successive broods, which come at short intervals. Seven or eight is the usual number for a litter, and there are five or six broods in a year.
In the matter of food, both the Rats are omnivorous, and it is, therefore, useless to attempt to give a list of substances acceptable to them. ”

“ The principal characters which distinguish the rat remain in all countries, but there are several species. The black rat is that which first inhabited this island; but it has been nearly driven out by the brown, which is, without any foundation, termed the Norway rat. It came from India, Persia, etc., and is said to have appeared in Europe after a great earthquake in 1727. All are so eminently carnivorous, that they do not make the least ceremony of devouring each other in times of scarcity ”

“ But of all the noxious animals none do more mischief than rats; both the old English black rat and the Norway rat, especially the latter, which is the most mischievous animal in the creation. In all the above cases, rules, not drawn from theory, but from twenty years strict observation and practice, are laid down in the plainest manner, to find out their haunts and hiding places ”

“ Such creatures are said to be "commensalistic," or eaters at the same table. They are often very unwelcome guests, whether they are flies, sparrows, or cockroaches; but probably the least welcome of all are the rats and mice. The Brown Rat is the best known of any. It has come into worse repute than usual of late, because it is now certain that it harbours the plague-bacillus, and communicates the disease to man. Its habits and appearance need no description. The Black Rat is the older and smaller species indigenous in Europe, which the brown rat has almost extirpated from England. ”

“ Although this black rat is inferior to the brown tribe in strength, size, and breeding powers, yet it must have been formidable also, for it was formerly thought necessary in England to institute the queer court position of rat catcher to the King. ”

“ There are two kinds known in this country—the Black Rat, which was formerly universal, but is now very rarely seen, having been almost all destroyed by the large brown kind, generally distinguished by the name of the Norway Rat. ”

“ He was surprised to find several freshly-killed mice in it. The inference is that the Rat had caught these for food. There is a common local saying that "where you find Mice you are free from Rats."
Black Rat (M. rattus) . C.—"This species still remains here, though its numbers are gradually decreasing; it is now seldom found, except in the ceilings and upper stories of old buildings" (Pagets) . "Probably extinct in this county" (Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc. 1883–84, p. 674) . Than at the present moment the Black Rat was never more numerous at Yarmouth. ”

“ Many have been killed by traps, dogs, and cats, but the survivors profit by the lesson, and occasionally shift their quarters, or refuse to be captured. After receiving several last February, with two or three of the subspecies Mus alexandrinus, the supply suddenly ceased at a certain grocer's stores, and the Brown Rat (M. decumanus) made its appearance. The Black Rats had apparently fled, and were swarming in a neighbouring dwelling. ”

“ This species is scarcely equal in size to a full grown common black rat, (Mus Rattus) , the head is rather shorter in proportion, the tarsi are smaller, and the tail is longer. In the character of the fur, and length of the hairs, it very closely resembles that species: the ears are larger than in M. decumanus, and about equal to those of M. Rattus. In having the hairs of the under parts of the body of an uniform colour, (i. e. not gray at the base,) it resembles the Mus Tectorum of Savi ”

“ BLACK RAT. This animal is the old genuine English House-Rat, no other being known in and about houses, for many ages, in this country, and differs in many particulars from the Norway Rat, last described, for they do not burrow and run into shores as the others do, but chiefly lie in the cielings and wainscots in houses, and in out-houses they lie under the ridge-tiles and behind the rafters, and run along the side-plates ”

“ The place was scarcely worth living in, so infested was it with these rats. The people found them in their breeches or petticoats when they put on their clothes in the morning, and it was nothing unusual to discover a rat’s nest in one’s shoes or pockets, or in one’s Sunday hat or bonnet.
The rats were great black creatures that ran boldly through the streets in broad daylight, and swarmed all over the houses. There was not a barn, or a cornrick, or a storeroom, or a cupboard, but they gnawed their way into it. ”

“ The question as to the kind of rodent that raged at Hameln is one of much interest, though I must not do more than glance at it. Rats are rare in folk-tales, I believe, and even when there, have often been evolved out of original mice. Gubernatis has bare mention of them in his Zoological Mythology. Naturalists have taught that mus rattus, the black rat, found its way to Europe only about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and that the brown, m. ”

“ I don't know, but I guess that, as the black rats' upper jaws were longer and sharper and more shark-like than the brown rats', and their tails very much longer, they got a spring off the tail—and legs, too—and had an agility in hanging on to knots and crannies above that possessed by the brown ghouls. Be that as it may, they did it, and got a respite under the floor of the room above, before their enemies, traveling more normally, and by holes, could swarm up after them. ”

“ The rat can only wound by snatches, and with his fore-teeth, which are more calculated for gnawing than biting, and have but little strength; whereas the weasel bites fiercely with his whole jaw, and instead of letting go sucks the blood thro' the wound, and therefore the rat always falls a victim to this formidable enemy.
There are many varieties in this species, as in all those which have numerous individuals. Besides the common rat which is nearly black, there are some brown, grey, reddish, and quite white. The white rat, like [212] all animals perfectly white has red eyes. ”

“ On closer sniffing and examination it turned out to be the dead rat, a big black one, unfortunately a male rat. The poor brute, that had starved to death, had tried to keep itself alive by devouring a couple of novels that lay in a locked drawer. ”

“ The rat will take up his nest in all and any out-of-the way places, as he shuns the light and lives wholly [Pg 46] in the dark and gloom. This is the cause of his poor sight; he can hardly see at all in the daytime, and in the night a little better. If you should meet with a rat by day, looking square in your face, depend upon it he isn't able to see you at all, in spite of the pretty gleam in his black eyes. ”

“ An ordinary rat had been caught and killed in a steel trap, and upon the body of the rat was perched a little black creature, which proved on examination to be a water-shrew, which was trying to make a meal upon the rat. ”

“ And as they talked, a big black wharf rat sneaked up behind them and began to help himself to the meat on the plate. It was too much for the hungry Button to lie there and see his supper or what he considered his, eaten up before his eyes by a nasty old rat. Forgetting [136] that he might be caught by the sailors, he sneaked off the pile of hops and crept to within jumping distance of the rat. Then with one long flying leap, he landed on the rat’s back and buried his teeth in his neck and his claws in his sides. It was a powerful rat, as I said before, and gave fight. ”