The Rat; Its History & Destructive Character. James Rodwell
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above where he lay there stood a shelf; and upon this shelf, the wife of the owner of the dog, on one occasion placed a paper bag containing four pounds of lump-sugar. In a day or two there was a call for sugar; away she ran to reach down the four pounds; when, to her utter astonishment, the bag was empty. She, however, soon discovered the cause; a rat had drilled a hole through the wainscoting just behind the bag, and thus carried away every lump of the sugar. This certainly was a theft of great daring on the part of Master Rat, considering it was perpetrated within a yard of the notorious Tiny, the great enemy and destroyer of the rat tribe.
Now that we have seen their liking for sugar in its most refined state, let us see what relish they have for saccharine, or, more plainly speaking, sugar in its rawest state.
In the “Natural History of British and Foreign Quadrupeds,” the author tells us that a gentleman had an estate in Jamaica much infested with the native rat, which I have been informed is a very pretty little animal, but to which he had a great dislike; and, as the author says, he imported, at great cost and trouble, a large and strong species to exterminate them. The rats he imported were, I suppose, our common brown rats, as I know of no others that would have answered his purpose so effectually, or carried matters to the extent which it appears they have done.
We are told that these rats went far beyond his expectations or wishes; for, after disposing of the native rats, they extended their hostility to the cats, and killed them also; and thus got rid of two enemies at once.
In no country is there a creature so destructive of property as the rat is in Jamaica—their ravages are inconceivable. One year with another, it is calculated that they destroy at least a twentieth part of the sugar-canes throughout the island; but this is not all—they prey upon the Indian corn, and on all the fruits within their reach, as also roots of various kinds, and indeed anything that is digestible. Some idea may be formed of their immense swarms from the fact, that on a single plantation no less a number than 30,000 were destoyed in one year. Traps of various kinds are set to catch them; poison is sometimes resorted to for killing them; as also terriers and ferrets sometimes to hunt them out; nevertheless their numbers seem undiminished, so far at least as can be judged from the ravages they commit.
It is a fact well authenticated, that rats prefer mild Wiltshire breakfast bacon, to lean, salt Irish; and as for hams, in the absence of prime Westphalia, they have no objection to put up with good Yorkshire. Then their liking for cheese is so well known that it requires but few remarks to substantiate it. As regards this article, the stomachs of rats are of a most accommodating character. They are not particular whether it be Stilton;—good old Cheshire, or Gloucester, single or double, all are equally welcome; or, in the absence of more fancy cheeses, they have no objections to finish off their meal with a piece of dumpling Dutch.
I have been informed by cheesemongers, that rats will frequently drill holes through the flooring beneath large Cheshire or other cheeses, and then eat their way into them, and thus they will frequently consume pounds and pounds in a night or two; nor is it an uncommon occurrence, they tell me, to find a large cheese with the inside scooped entirely out, leaving the rind a mere empty worthless shell.
I have heard a curious instance of seven rats working a Cheshire cheese-trap for their own destruction. It has been remarked by an eminent physician, that great eaters dig their graves with their teeth! How far this may be correct, I will leave others to decide; but, certain it was, that the rats I speak of dug theirs with their teeth. Four or five large Cheshire cheeses were placed on each other in a storeroom, and the rats beneath the flooring drilled a hole through the boards, and so worked and ate their way into the bottom cheese. One night, however, it appears that, while they were busily engaged, the walls of the cheese, which had been rendered so weak and thin by the rats within, gave way, and down came the pile upon them. On the following morning, when the men removed the pile, they found the bodies of seven rats, all of which had been regaling themselves in the bottom cheese, when it fell in and crushed them in the ruins.
It appears from the accounts of several authors, that the rats of England, like the rats of Jamaica, have at times a liking for fruits. A gentleman residing at Battle, states that the renowned Battle Abbey abuts on his neighbour’s garden, where he has a fine Morella cherry-tree growing against the wall. For some days past he had missed great numbers of cherries from his tree, and could not detect the thief. But at length, walking one day at noon, he saw a house-rat deliberately biting the cherries off by the stalks, and taking them away to a hole in the wall. This is a most extraordinary occurrence, as, the cherries being bitter, one would have imagined that they would be far from palatable.
I have been informed by several butchers in Newgate market, that rats are the most troublesome creatures they have to contend with; that every day in their lives all the meat they have left on hand, must be hung up out of their reach, or, in the night, they will so mangle and drill it, that nothing after can be done with it except for sausage-meat. It matters little whether it be mutton, beef, pork, veal, or lamb; to them all are the same. Nor is it always safe from them even when hung up; for if there be any possibility of clambering or jumping up, they will have it; and though we are apt to view them in a most mean and contemptible light, nevertheless they are epicureans in their way, for, should a hind quarter of beef by any accident fall or be left upon the blocks or benches, they will not eat the leg or shin—oh, no! but will plunge vigorously into the softer parts of the rump or sirloin, and thus destroy the most valuable joints.
On the whole, it seems perfectly clear, that in a colony of rats, various portions of them possess different likings and dispositions, and classify themselves accordingly. Hence it is, that in the spring one party will betake themselves to the fields, a second to the hedges and ditches, a third to the water-side, and a fourth to the game-preserves; while a fifth will remain at home in the farmsteads to the great annoyance of the good dame and her daughters. But even in the same individual animal, its likings and dispositions will vary according to circumstances. In the autumn, however, nearly the whole tribe come to one opinion, and resolve to return to the barns and ricks for winter quarters.
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