OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN

Otago Witness, Issue 3149, 22 July 1914, Page 71

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN

FOR SENIORS AND JUNIORS. (Conducted by Maqister, to whom all communications must be addressed.) [Magister will be glad to receive Nature Notes, marked papers containing educational articles, diagrams, details of experiments, etc., of scholastic interest--to teachers and pupils. Correspondents must use only one sins of the paper, and whether using a pen name or not, must send both name and ADDRESS.] RATS! MAORI, PAKEHA, AND NORWEGIAN/ "Quill Driver" (Hastings, Hawke’s Bay) last week send me the following letter and tire specimen referred to: “ Dear Sir, —Under separate cover I am forwarding a variety of rat that I have neverseen before, and would bo glad if you could identity same. The animal was seen in company with another in an African boxthorn hedge about 6ft from the ground, where it had a nest made out of coarse grass and twigs of tree lucerne. There was also a rat hole in the ground at the foot of the hedge, with a nest of the same materials in it, into which the second rat ran when disturbed. Please reply through your column in the Witness. Thanking you in anticipation.” 1 sent the rat, with an advance note, to Dr Benham. to give him an opportunity to open the package in the open, for, ugh! Phew ! If only correspondents could bo present sometimes when packets arc opened! The caution was not necessary in this case, for the parcel was not delayed in transit, and Dr Bonham has the rat now in spirit. It is the black one probably introduced into Now Zealand by Captain Cook, and known to be arboreal in it's habits, for it came originally from India, where it is often found in trees living on fruits and other vegetable articles. Briefly, there are three rats to be noticed in connection with the zoology of New Zealand —the Mus maorium, or Kiore, the rat which tradition says the Maoris brought in a box in one of their canoes to breed as a table delicacy; the Mus rattus, or black rat, which was introduced—not intentionally, of course —by Captain Cook, or subsequent navigators; and the Mus decumanus, the Norwegian rat —improperly so called, the Wanderer would bo a more suitable name — which has almost exterminated the black rat. The specimen sent, as I have said, is the M. rattus, or black rat, a good specimen, too, for it had a beautiful bluish-black fur. I might add that Professor Benham, at a meeting of the Otago Institute, described it, and had on exhibition the Maori rat — much the same in size, but fur not so dark — and several specimens of the Norwegian rat, the one usually seen in houses, grain stores, etc. The trouble the professor went to to give us his little dissertation on rats aroused my interest, so I looked up several books, including five or six volumes of the “Transactions of the Now Zealand Institute,” and made some notes, thinking they would interest “Quill Driver” and others. THE BLACK RAT. This is much smaller than the übiquitous rat, and from India has penetrated into almost all parts of the world, and has nearly if not entirely, exterminated the indigenous rat. It is supposed to have reached Europe in the thirteenth century. Of late years another, and even darker, species-, the Black Sea black rat (M. rattus ator), has made its appearance. Through the wheat ships, I wonder? Both are “of predacious habits, have an omnivorous diet, and great fecundity,” bringing forth young four or five tjnics a year, commencing to bear when half-grown —about six months’ old —and have from four to 10 naked, blind young ones at a birth. The period of gestation is about 20 days. THE BROWN RAT. “The brown —or, as it is inappropriately called, the Norway—rat (Mus decumanus)

offers one of the most remarkable instt.neos of a successful usurpation to be found in the animal kingdom, this creature having ousted the black rat from most parts of England and a large area on the Continent. So far as can be ascertained, its original home appears to have been Western China, whence it gradually travelled westwards to Continental Europe, finally reaching the shores of the British Islands by the involuntary aid of ships. Its westerly migration was, however, by no means limited to Europe, as it has been carried by vessels across the Atlantic, and is now as abundant in many parts of North America as it is in the Old World. The migration of the rat into Russia js known to have taken place about 1727, in which year large troops of these animals crossed the Volga from Central Asia, and made their way westwards. In Paris it appeared about the middle of the eighteenth century, and it is generally supposed to have first reached England in 1730. “ The prolific nature of the brown rat is little short of marvellous, and thoroughly accounts for its enormous number in favourable situations. Several litters are produced annually, each of which generally contains from eight to 10, and sometimes as many as 12 or 14, young; and a female rat will breed when only half-grown, although the number of its progeny is then but three or four at a birth. . . . Some years ago the number of rats in the slaughter-houses around Paris was so great that as many as 2650 were killed in a single night, and over 16,000 in a month. “ Rats, impelled by scarcity of provisions, at times make migrations in large bodies. . , . Some years ago the rats that frequented the London Zoological Gardens were in the habit of regularly swimming to and from across the Regent’s Canal. When brought to bay, the ferocity with which a rat will defend itself against a human or canine foe is known to most persons. When pressed by hanger, rats will, however, occasionally attack human beings without provocation ; and it is on record that an unfortunate man, on entering a coalpit which had been closed for some time, was actually killed and devoured by a starving host of rats.’’ It is this rat that spreads plague, not of itself, but through the fleas which infest it. Rats: Numerous, Cunning, and Fearless. —This extract is taken from a paper by A. Reisohek, F.L.S.; —“ But it is in Chalky Sound, where I am at present, that they have played on me the most devilish tricks, and are more numerous than in any other place I have been. I fed them on poisoned plaster of Paris and oatmeal, trapped,' and shot them; but as fast as I got rid of one lot another came. They made so much noise in the hut at night that 1 could scarcely sleep. They ran over us in bed, knocked articles down from the shelves, gnawed the provision cases. . . . They dug up and carried away potatoes which were planted in the garden. The bird skins I had in a drying hut, hung on thin wires and well poisoned, but the rats climbed the rafters, jumped down on them, and spoilt several. I had skeletons hanging on a thin wire, 12ft high and 20ft long; for three weeks they tried in vain to walk the tightrope, and at last succeeded; then they wound their tails round the flax like an opossum, and slid down nearly 2ft, when they gnawed the bones and spoilt the skeletons. . . . The first night we camped on the mountains the grass country was swarming with rats. They gnawed at our boots, though we had them with us in the tent; while we ate our supper by the fire they came behind us and nibbled at the bones we placed foe the dogs; but they amused me most by disturbing Mr Rimmer, my companion. lie sleeps so soundly that nothing wakes him; even when I fired the gun at the rats in the hut he did not hear it But on the mountains they took a fancy for his hair, and ho was awakened three times in one night by their biting it away. THE MAO RI RAT. As I have said, the Maori rat—Kiore, the Maoris call it, but it is known to science as Mus maorium—was brought over to Now Zealand with the Maori dog. The dog is extinct, but is the rat? Some say it is, ° others say not.' Readers of ‘ ‘ Maori Life in Ao-tea ” will there find several reference* to .it. There we are told that it was fond’ of miro berries, tilie -bark of the patete, and nibbled the kumaras, and relished the honey of the puriri, which often stup’ficd and poisoned them; and that the patakas (food houses)' “were either raised on squared or carved posts, or the walls at the ground were lined with slabs cut from tree-ferns, which were proof against tho teeth of that animal.” The Snaring of the Kiore. —“ Kiore were trapped in the forests, where they inade their nests in the drooping dry leaves of the ponga and other such sheltered places. AJrC> vaugnt in p.ts, wider at the bottom than at the top, roasted berries of hinau being scattered on the floor. Finding easy access to this mucih-likecl food by means of a log leaning from the’side of tho floor, the kiore would soon become accustomed to the pit; and when the log .was removed, down they leaped, enjoying the dainties. But, alas! tho hunters must help them out again. Long narrow tracks of great length, too, would be cleared in the forests, along which were set baited traps; or they would be set along any path constantly used by the kiore, when no bait was necessary. . . . Karakia and ceremonies ensured the efficacy of tho traps; and futher to ensure success, when hunters went out they never mentioned the kiore by name, but called him ‘the fellow,’ lest he should be warned away. Nor was he altogether ignorant of the purpose for which the traps were there, as is seen by this joyous song of the forest-kiore as they sat in the tree. First, Kiore: ‘E kiore e! let us two descend.’ Second Kiore : ‘ Why should we two descend V First Kiore: ‘ To gather up the tempting baits for us to eat.’ Second Kiore: ‘ What are the tempting baits?’ Fii-st Kiore: Sweet ripe fruits of miro and kahikatea.’ Th’rd Kiore: ‘ Hi! fudge! I am but come from below, O my friends! and down there is the fear and trembling, • O my friends! tho spring of the snare resounds with a click—mv. neck is caught and held fast— I can only squeak ‘‘Torcte! Torete!” —Be assured I will not go below, seoldng those tempting baits. Oh, no! alas!’” Preparation for Food. —iSpeaking of domestic duties, etc., of the women,-- 0. Johannes Andersen says; “From the forest snares, too, set in prepared tracks, large numbers of kiore had been taken; their bones broken and extracted through the natural vent, leaving the skin whole, lay ready for cooking as delicacies for the expected rangatira.” It might be added here, that while the Maoris ate tho kiore as a delicious dish,

thinking- it cleanly and wholesome, they abhorred the black and brown rats, because those eat excrement and putrescent flesh. Arboreal Habits.—ln 1897 Mr Taylor White road a paper on the arboreal habits of the rat—the account will stand for cither the Maori or the pakeha rat—before the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Society. The following is an extract: — “ During tho winter of 1895, when cutting down a small tree so that my Angora goats might eat the leaves, I saw amongst its branches a dark something. . . . When looking more closely, it proved to bo a nest of a most peculiar architecture, and a great novelty. . . . Upon this platform a rat had evidently raised a superstructure which was to serve him as a permanent home, or perhaps Mrs Bat required a nursery for her children. . . , The small tree which held the nest, some 10ft from the ground, was growing in close proximity to a largo rata tree. . . . Into the top of this large tree extended the rope-like vines of a second species of rata. . . , By the aid of this natural ladder ray rat had evidently climbed up to the nest, and by this road carried all the material for the building of the ifest.” Mr .White subsequently found another nest, this time in a young ribbonwood tree.” It will be noticed that both, tho pakeha (black) and Maori (kioro) rats are referred to as having arboreal habits. A RAT PLAGUE. I think 111 finish up with a reference to the cat invasion which troubled Marlborough and Nelson in the spring 0 f 1884. For this account 1 am indebted to a paper by John. Meeson, 8.A., read before the Nelson Philosophical Society: The magnitude of tho plague is tho subject of ordinary conversation. Nelson and Marlborough ... is enduring a perfect invasion. Living rats are sneaking into every corner, scuttling across every path; their dead bodies, in various stages of decay,; and in many cases more or less mutilated, strew the roads, fields, and gardens, pollute the wells and streams in all directions. Whatever kills tho animals does not succeed in .materially diminishing their numbers. Fresh battalions take the place of those slaughtered. Young and succulent crops, as of wheat and peas, are so ravaged as to bo unfit for, and not worth the trouble of, cutting and harvesting. A young farmer the other day killed with a stout stick 200 of the little rodents in a couple of hours in his wheat field.” In his paper the writer asks three questions: (1) Whence do the animals come? (2) To what species do they belong. (3) What kills them off in such numbers? In searching for an answer to • the first question, he arrived at the conclusion that the habitat of the invading force '“was somewhere in the high, rough, and secluded country on the western side of tho. Kaikoura Range,” whence they descended upon. Blenheim and Picton, and then “ made their way in a westerly direction through tho Wangaraoa to Wakapuaka, Nelson, and the Waimeas. Thousands of them made a mistake while passing on the eastern coast of Blind Bay towards Nelson. They took to the boulder bank, and travelled along that curious prong of land to its very extremity. To continue their course onwards they then boldly swam across the passage leading into the harbour [the boulder bank was- not then cut through to give access to the harbour] rather than lose time, by retracing their steps. From the Waimeas the invading force journeyed onwards round Tasman Bay to the Motuelca; took possession in. countless myriads of the valley of tho Motueka, spread round Golden Bay, passed CoUingwood, and planted their outposts even' as far as Cape Farewell. They have now completely overrun the southern shores of Cook Strait, and have even appeared on D’Urville Island, which apparently they could only have reached by swimming tho French Pass.” What caused the invasion? No ono knows; but Mr Mceson mentions what may be a curious fact. “I have examined many of these animals,” he wrote, “and have not found a single female. One of- ray neighbours has examined 200 of them, and a Maori at a pa beyond Wakapuaka 100, with the same negative result. I have nob heard of many females as yet being taken amongst tho whole host. . . . If it really be tho case that nearly all these visitors of ours are males, we may safely prognosticate that . . . tho infliction under which wo suffer will not be of long continuance. Arguing by analogy, we should say that the young males driven, or volunteering, on a dangerous foray, will not stay long irom their old quarters if they be unaccompanied by the other sex. But is it possible that the weaker males have been driven out by the stronger through jealousy—or that, through ‘ res angusta domi,’ like drones from a hive of bees, they have decamped to escape the massacre with which they were threatened by a combination of tho strongest males and the whole body of females?” The rats concerned, it is generally conceded, were the imported black rat, which here, ’as elsewhere, has pretty well disappeared before the newer invasion, the Norwegian rat, just as the black rat drove out indigenous rats. By the bye, I think it is generally concluded that there were no rats here before the Maoris came, and that the Maori rat is identical with the rat of the Pacific Islands. CORRESPONDENCE NOTES. Well done, Dorothy! You and' youf chums must have put your minds to it properly. lam publishing your letters, but nob your diagrams, though they are so well done. You see you haven’t given the dimensions of the oblong and the exact details of the 'folding. Each folding must have - definite angles or distances. The diagram I saw had just two or three simple folds on definite principles, and the thing was done." Technical School, Balclutha, July 6. Dear “ Magister,”—After reading your request to make a five-pointed star with one clip of tho scissors, I became very anxious to try to make one. After a few attempts I succeeded, and I have made diagrams illustrating tho method. Diagram 3 is perhaps a little hard to follow at first attempt, so I shall enclose a piece of paper to show the step more clearly. Our attempts afforded! a groat deal of amusement, some of the stars had a remarkable number of pointy No one would give up until lie or she had made a perfect five-pointed star. I apologise [none needed] for No. 3 being so smudgy, but that was caused through completely changing tho diagram.—Yours sincerely, Dorothy Appleby. “W. S- D.’s ” (Hillgrovc) letter will appear next week with the meteorological notes. , . . . , , I am giving up a gooci deal of space to day to rats ! “ Quill-driver’s ” letter and specimen from Hastings aroused my curiosity. Perhaps some will think I have become “ ratty ” on rats.