The Rat; Its History & Destructive Character. James Rodwell

      INTRODUCTION.

      FOR years I have been studying the nature, fecundity, and devastating character of the RAT, and I have spared neither time nor trouble in obtaining all the information within my power. In my opinion it is a subject which materially concerns the general welfare of the human family. Nay, more; it seems to me extraordinary, that when the cleverest legislators, from time to time, have been exerting their minds and faculties to relieve agricultural and manufacturing depression, the subject of which I am now treating should have remained altogether unnoticed; for I believe these destructive vermin will be found to be a most fertile source of individual and national distress. In saying this much, it may perhaps be thought that I am attaching too much importance to the subject; but when the reader shall have perused this work, and given it that deep consideration which is necessary, I believe he will come to the same conclusion as myself.

      I must here mention that none of the naturalists whom I have consulted give a clear definition of the rat. Some of them, it is true, present lucid descriptions of it as it is, even to the colour of a hair, or the length and diameter of its intestines; but as to its general habits, and what it does, they are most vague and imperfect.

      Rats feed and labour in the dark; they shun the approach of man. If we enter a barn or granary, where hundreds are living, we shall not observe any, unless we disturb them in their hiding-places. If we go to a rick that may be one living mass within (a thing by no means uncommon), we shall not see one; or if we dive into a cellar that may be perfectly infested, the result is the same; unless, perchance, a stray one may scud across for a more safe retreat. Hence it is that men seldom think of rats, because they rarely see them; but if rats could by any means be made to live on the surface of the earth instead of in holes and corners, and feed and run about the streets and fields in the open day, like dogs and sheep, the whole nation would be horror-stricken; and ultimately there would not be a man, woman, or child but would have a dog, stick, or gun to effect their destruction, wherever they met with them. Are we to suppose then, because they carry on their ravages in the dark, that they are less destructive? Certainly not. My object then, in making this appeal to my fellow-countrymen, and supplying them with the following History of the Rat (as deduced from the most experienced individuals and naturalists, and interspersed with a host of published and unpublished facts), is for the purpose of rousing them up to one universal warfare against these enemies of mankind, which by their voracious habits contribute to the impoverishing of our farmers and the privation of our fellow-creatures.

      In doing this, however, let me be distinctly understood to have in view those rats only that are living and feeding in barns, granaries, ricks, mills, cornfields, warehouses, &c.; in a word, wherever human sustenance is deposited, either on sea or land. Such are their omnivorous, gregarious, and migratory habits, that the whole of Europe, and every temperate region of the known world, are equally infested by them; for when their food runs short, they migrate by hundreds in a drove to some neighbouring barn, granary, rick, or other place, where food is to be found. There will they resort, and scarce anything is proof against them.

      Here I may observe that neither bricks, lead, zinc, nor the corners or edges of stone are proof against their teeth and claws. If you examine the holes that they have drilled in your walls, &c., you will find, in most cases, that portions of the bricks or stone on every side are gone,—the space the mortar occupied not being sufficient to admit their bodies. Mr. Waterton tells us, that when the partitionings of his premises were removed, for the purpose of annihilating the rats, he found that where the corners of bricks protruded, so as to obstruct them in their runs, they had actually gnawed them off, and thus obtained a free passage. I have also met with several instances wherein they have not only eaten through zinc drain-pipes, but leaden beer and water pipes. Neither are even gas-pipes free from their depredations. The following instance was lately recorded in the “Manchester Guardian”:—

      “A circumstance has been communicated to us this week by Messrs. J. P. and E. Westhead and Co. of this town (Manchester), which shows the serious risks of explosion, as well as great annoyance from the smell of escaping gas, may arise out of the ravages of rats. In the new warehouses of that firm in Piccadilly, some of the gas-pipes are placed, as usual, between the floors and ceilings beneath, and an unpleasant smell of gas having been perceived, an examination was instituted into the condition of the pipes, when it was found that some of them had been gnawed through by rats, and in two of them there were holes large enough to permit an escape of gas quite sufficient to cause a most serious and destructive explosion. In one case the hole in the side of the pipe was equal in size to the width of the pipe itself.”

      The writer then states that these facts should be generally known, as it may be necessary, in some cases, either to have pipes of some harder material than lead, or to case them in tin or sheet iron. But to me it seems far more desirable to get rid of the rats themselves; since there are a host of other things besides gas-pipes that suffer from their ravages. “Yes,” it will be said; “but how is this to be done effectually?” To this, I reply, read my book, and then you will ascertain the means.

      I can perfectly understand the surprise, nay, I may say, astonishment, created in the minds of some at the weight I attach to rats; but this in most cases arises from want of a due consideration of the subject. It is certain that rats are known to almost every one; but the local injuries they commit are seen only by minute observers. Hence it is, that if a few instances of their swarming numbers and midnight ravages be collected together, and laid open to the understanding, we shall then see one of the greatest causes of agricultural distress.

      The old adage says, “that a constant dropping wears a hole in a stone.” So is it with rats; for with their astonishing fecundity and omnivorous habits, they are eating like a cancer into the very foundation of British prosperity. Still they are allowed to live, and to revel without any effectual means being resorted to for checking their devastations. But let our farm vermin be destroyed, our hedges levelled, and our lands fully cultivated; and I believe there is little doubt but that our home-grown produce would be more than amply sufficient to supply all our domestic wants. Then, and not till then, do I believe that Great Britain and Ireland will feel themselves to be—what in truth they ought to be—a great and independent people.

       PART I.

      CHAPTER I.

      THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF RATS, AND THEIR NATURAL HISTORY.

      I SHALL commence by explaining the natural characteristics of the different kinds of rats; as the WATER VOLE (or Water Rat); the BLACK RAT; the ALBINO (or White

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