PROFLIGACY OF RATS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 2515, 29 September 1893, Page 1

PROFLIGACY OF RATS.

In the « Field ' of July 1, 1871, says a correspondent, isau account of a litter of twenty two rats, all of one size and not more than a few hours old, which were found in some bean straw. In Beli's " British Quadrupeds " the number of young rats iv each litter is given as from twelve to fourteen. Pennant in his "British Zoology," speakiog of the common rat, then known as the Norway rat to distinguish it from the older known black rat (Mus rattus), says, "It increases most am»zinaly fast, producing from fourteen to eighteen young at a time." Bewick describes it as producing from twelve to eighteen at a time. Jenyns, in His " History of British Vertebrate Animals," does not mention the number of young in this species, but gives that of the black rat, which is much less prolific. Flemiug, in his " British Animals," says that the brown rat brings forth as many as ninf teen at a litter. It is this extraordinary rate of increase which preserves this species in its abundance, notwithstanding the attacks by its exceedingly numerous enennea. The old male rats, when pressed by hunger, will devour the young ones ; stoats, weaslea, and polecats, to say nothing of cats and dogs, destroy large quantities, v»s do nanny of the birds of prey, especially owJa, when these are left by the gamekeeper. But, nevertheless, the rat maintains its ground as one of the most tioublesome species of vermin by which our houses and their surroundings are infested.