THE GREAT MARCH OF RATS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 27

THE GREAT MARCH OF RATS

Almost every century has known its great migrations of the rat folk, writes Robert Goffin in "The Romance of the Rat," says "Public Opinion." Independently from these mass movements, however, there are the seasonal movements, the marches which recur regularly, with infallible punctuality, year in and year out, from generation to generation of rats.

Sometimes it is the weather which causes these migrations, sometimes the quest for food. The fisherfolk on the coast of France and Belgium maintain that the rats know the beginning and end of the fishing season to the day, because of the considerable quantities of. refuse which accumulate during that period.

English scientists found that the migrations of rats from the interior to the coast always take place at certain set dates. Apparently, the rats of the hinterland know and transmit to their offspring the knowledge of the approximate date when herring fishing starts all along the coasts of, tha British Isles. Refuse of herring f.s one of their.favourite dishes. As soon as the peak of the fishing season is passed, the rats begin to wander back to the interior in stages, marching during the night and sometimes covering 70 and more miles. Generally speaking, the life of the rat. like that of all animal species, is dominated by the great driving force, hunger. The rat goes where it expects to find more food. Next to hunger, the sex impulse it is great motive force.

Having exterminated the brown rat in centuries gone by, the victorious black rat took possession of the abandoned territories and settled down to a period of peace and prosperity, during which the species became "soft" and less cruel.

This lasted until one day the legions of grey rats began to flock from their native steppes of Asia and move westward, crossing streams, occupying harbours, and imposing tribute upon the countryside, until. they reached the strongholds of the former victors. A ruthless war between right and violence began. The invaders were stronger, more cruel and daring than the rightful occupants. The black rats were faster and more agile but these qualities proved helpful merely on their flight before' the aggressor. Farther and farther they retreated and finally established themselves in reservations, difficult of access to the savage and intrepid grey fiends.

The ways and habits of the grey rat gradually changed from generation to generation, from siege to siege, from attack to attack. Their audacity born from ever new victories drove them farther and farther west. They elaborated a technique which permitted sudden surprise attacks on the black rats, ending with the latter's extermination. •*'

Circumstances compelled the survivors to adapt themselves to this new life of danger and hiding. As they began to recover from the catastrophe that had befallen them and find their way to one another, single groups envisaged the advisability of emigrating towards new destinations. Taking advantage of their agility and suppleness they did something which the grey rats would never have dared; they invaded the ships, where they had no difficulty in climbing up and down the rigging. Soon they began to swarm in. territories not hitherto conquered, forming currents even in the midst of the settlements of the grey rat, moving at a faster or slower pace, for reasons which we have not as yet succeeded in discovering.