Brown rat

“ 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. ”

“ Let no student make the mistake of concluding that when he has learned an animal's place in nature there is nothing more to pursue.
After fifty years of practical experience with wild animals of many species, I am reluctantly compelled to give the prize for greatest cunning and foresight in self-preservation to the common brown rat,—the accursed "domestic" rat that has adopted man as his perpetual servant, and regards man's goods as his lawful prey. When all other land animals have been exterminated from the earth, the brown rat will remain, to harry and to rob the Last Man. ”

“ There were a good many of the species of the large brown Norwegian rat; but as I have mentioned before, we usually kept out of their way, from a tender regard for our own ears.
There was one brown rat, however, whose fame had spread, not only in his own tribe, but in ours. For quickness of wit, readiness in danger, strength of teeth, and courage in using them, I have never yet met with his equal. Whiskerandos was a hero of a rat. Was it not he who in single combat had met and conquered a young ferret! an exploit in itself quite sufficient to establish his fame as a warrior. ”

“ They all hurried to the place where Patter was barking at the hole. Mrs. Brown, reaching the spot first, said:
“Only a big rat!”
And, truly, a big brown rat ran out of the hole and scurried across the barn floor.
“Sue can’t be in that hole!” said Bunny.
“It isn’t big enough,” added Charlie.
“And, anyhow, she’d be afraid of the rats,” said George.
“My sister isn’t afraid of white rats,” declared Bunny, “cause when we had our circus she picked a white rat right up in her hands.”
“Pooh! Nobody’s afraid of white rats!” said Charlie.
“They is so! Aren’t some girls afraid of white rats, Mother?” ”

“ It was a foot beyond the normal take-off of the grown rat. He flung his head round, put all the force he possessed into his hind legs, and leapt, upwards and backwards, towards the shelf. He caught it with his fore-paws, scrambled on to it, and, for the moment, was safe. He was only just quick enough. As his eyes turned, the brown rats had rushed forward, and, even as he clutched the ledge, he heard them pattering against the wall.
The floor below was a raging sea of rats; rats leaping over one another, jostling, biting, tearing. ”

“ The brown rats looked at the warrior with keen, wondering gaze, while Whiskerandos calmly continued, “I lost my ears in single combat with a ferret; he who exacted the toll lost his life in exchange, and I feel somehow persuaded that you will rather politely guide me into your house and share with me whatever I get there, than try the experiment whether a rat can fight as well without ears as he once did with them.” ”

“ As a matter of fact, the ordinary brown rat, which we find everywhere near man, is a pretty black-eyed, softly robed, and delicately constructed little animal; and although his fur may be plainly colored, like the plumage of the sparrow amongst birds, yet it is of the finest texture, and, when possible, is always kept scrupulously clean. In solitary captivity he is continually sitting on his haunches, cleaning his fur like a cat; and the writer has found, by actual experiment, the weight of twelve full-grown, well-fed New York city rats to amount to exactly twelve and a half pounds. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The brown rat has persistently accompanied man all over the world. Millions have been spent in fighting him and the bubonic-plague flea that he cheerfully carries in his offensive fur. For him no place that contains food is too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. Many old sailors claim to believe that rats will desert at the dock an outward-bound ship that is fated to be lost at sea ”

“ The Black Rat is of more slender proportions than the better [Pg 96] known Brown Rat, and much smaller, the dimensions of the head and body being about seven inches, whilst the scaly-ringed and almost hairless tail is more than eight inches. The long, pointed snout projects far beyond the short lower jaw; the whiskers are long and black. Though presenting the appearance denoted by its popular name, the glossy blue-black fur has a good sprinkling of grey on the upper surface, whilst below it is dark grey. The large, thin ears are naked, and about half the length of the head. ”

“ In America it is now established in human abodes throughout the length and breadth of the continents from Greenland to Patagonia.
Wherever it goes the fierce and aggressive spirit with which it is endowed qualifies the brown rat more than to hold its own against all rivals, while its mental adroitness and its fecundity have largely nullified the constant warfare being waged against it by all mankind. ”

“ For centuries the house mouse has been parasitic about the habitations of man, and in many places in America has spread into the surrounding country, where it holds its own in the struggle for existence with many of our native species. It is probable that its ability to live in houses also infested by the fierce brown rat is due wholly to its agility, and to the small size, which enables it to retreat through crevices too small for the rat. ”

“ Fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable, crustacean or mollusc—anything that can be digested—is eaten by them; and if all else fails they will eat their own kin. In this matter [Pg 97] the Brown Rat, from his superior size and ferocity, has the advantage, as is emphasised by an incident told by a professional rat-catcher to Frank Buckland. He said that having had a successful haul in infested premises he had turned all his captures both Black and Brown into a large wire cage, intending to have a little sport next day with a few cronies and a terrier or two. ”

“ In color he is yellowish-brown and whitish underneath. His fur is longer and coarser than that of other native Rats.
“He lives in old fields, along ditches and hedges, and in similar places where there is plenty of cover in which he can hide from his enemies. He burrows in the ground and usually has his nest of dry grass there, though often in summer it is the surface of the ground. He does not live in and around the homes of men, like the Brown Rat, but he causes a great deal of damage by stealing grain in the shock. He eats all kinds of grain, many seeds, and meat when he can get it. ”

“ These were the brown rats which infest every part of the world, but very much increased in size by their residence in a hot climate.
Besides these brown rats, a bush rat, as it is called, infests the forests, and is about as large as a young pig. When I first saw this, and felt myself surrounded as it were, by familiar animals increased to such magnitude, by multitudes previously unknown to me, and others of which I had only heard, and yet none of us were devoured, I could not but feel with tenfold depth the Creator's command, that man should have the dominion over them all. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 or Indigenous rat had things all its own way in North America as well as through the rest of the civilized earth, before the Brown species' sweeping invasion, the former having been entirely subdued and are now very scarce. It was easy enough for the brown rats to do this, because they were bigger, bolder, and more ferocious. Their multiplying powers, too, were sixteen times greater than the vanquished nation whose origin is shrouded in the darkest and most complete mystery. ”

“ Until the discovery of America, the rat and mouse were unknown in the New World, and the first rats who ever saw it are said to have been introduced in a ship from Antwerp. [19]
The brown rat is of a greyish-brown colour, tinged with yellow and white beneath. The tail is not so long as the body. It is a larger rat than M. rattus, has shorter ears, a more powerful skull, and ten to twelve mammae. Its ears, feet, and tail are flesh-coloured. ”

“ Tomes might be written about the minds and manners of the brown rat, setting forth in detail its wonderful intelligence in quickly getting wise to new food, new shelter, new traps and new poisons. Six dead rats are, as a rule, sufficient to put any new trap out of business ”

“ There was one brown rat, in particular, that seemed to wait upon him, and pay him court, as though, having no merit of his own, Shabby fancied that he could borrow a little from a distinguished companion. I have often seen this in life, (I am now an old and experienced rat,) I have seen a mean race following and flattering their superiors, ready to lick the dust from their feet, not from real admiration or attachment, but, like a mistletoe upon a 28 forest tree, because they had no proper footing of their own, and liked to be raised on the credit of another. ”

“ Western frontiersmen and others who live in the land of the pack rat relate stories innumerable of the absurd but industrious doings of these eccentric creatures. The ways of the pack rat are so erratic that I find it impossible to figure out by any rules known to me the workings of their minds. Strange to say, they are not fiends and devils of malice and destruction like the brown rat of civilization, and on the whole it seems that the destruction of valuable property is not by any means a part of their plan. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thus, from day to day, as in society at large, new introductions constantly take place, and old friends die out for ever. The brown rat replaces the old English black rat; strange weeds kill off the weeds of ancient days; fresh flies and grubs and beetles crop up, and disturb the primitive entomological balance. The bustard is gone from Salisbury Plain; the fenland butterflies have disappeared with the drainage of the fens. ”

“ The gray, or brown rat, as he is often called, will, in favorable situations, increase enormously, producing annually several litters, each of which may contain eight, ten, or even twelve or fourteen young ones. ”

“ They are, in fact, omnivorous, and nothing in the way of human food is alien to them. They do enormous harm to corn-ricks and to stored grain. They are inveterate enemies of the hen-roost, the pigeon-house, and, as we have seen, of the rabbit-warren. When pressed by hunger, they readily turn cannibal, and the brown rat easily masters the black. There are stories of some few specimens of each species being left in a cage overnight ”

“ So as this vile foreign brown rat is fond of living in the banks of ditches and of ponds, near mills and stables, he is often thought to be the same as the quiet respectable water-rat. For, as I say, the stupidity and ignorance of people is really amazing! ”

“ They are considerably different in size and general appearance from the common brown rat, being less fierce in appearance, and weighing, in full-grown specimens, only about two ounces. They are slow and awkward in movement on the ground, but quite at home and extremely active in climbing trees. ”