Chapter 16

A peculiar formation of the incisors, or front teeth, groups a number of smaller animals together under the name of Rodentia, from the Latin word _rodens_, which signifies gnawing. These teeth act as files, so that the food on which their owners principally live is reduced by friction to a state which fits it for digestion. As the edges of these teeth become worn by constant use, they incessantly grow from the root. If one be broken, that opposite to it, in the other jaw, being deprived of its habitual wear and tear, grows so fast that it not only annoys its owner, but has caused his destruction by effectually closing the mouth. Their lower jaws can only move backwards and forwards; some exclusively eat vegetables, others eat all things, and others again prefer flesh. Some carry their food to their mouths with their paws, and climb trees; and, in many, the hinder limbs are so much longer than those in front, that they leap instead of walk. They are widely and numerously spread on the surface of the earth, and therefore bear strongly on its history; but it is not among them that we find the high intellectual development with which many other animals are gifted.

Squirrels are some of the most beautiful of the Rodentia, and chiefly live in trees. The fur of some of the species is extremely beautiful and valuable; they are very active, elegant little creatures, and easily tamed, when they become very playful and affectionate. A friend of mine was deprived of her only daughter, and the lost one's pet squirrel was of course cherished and loved; the little creature used to run up the lady's arm, and seat itself on her shoulder, caress her with its head, nestle itself into her neck, and drink her tears. As long as it lived, it was never caressed by the mother without first looking in her face for the drops, which it had been accustomed to remove.

These animals have a large bushy tail, the hair of which spreads out on each side like a feather; and by it they are guided and supported when they leap. The flying squirrels, as they are called, have an expansion of the skin of the sides, which extends between the hind and fore legs, by which they are suspended in the air when passing from tree to tree, and by it are enabled to go to greater distances without being actually able to fly, as their name would imply. The general colour of the English squirrel is red in summer; but in winter they often assume a grayish tint, at which time they have long pencils of hair at the top of their ears. This grey becomes more decided in more northern climates; and occasionally they are black. They always live in pairs, and sometimes are gregarious, inhabiting burrows. They lay up stores of provisions in different places; but they sleep the greater part of the cold months, their tail turned over them to keep them warm, having beforehand made a very elaborate nest of moss, leaves, and interlacing fibres in the hole of a tree, or the fork of two branches. They exclusively eat vegetable food, and are occasionally themselves eaten by the larger birds of prey.

Sir Francis Head gives us the following account of his meeting with a squirrel in Canada. "I was waiting the approach of a large flock of wild fowl; but a little villain of a squirrel on the bough of a tree close to me, seemed to have determined that even now I should not rest in quiet; for he sputtered and chattered with so much vehemence, that he attracted the attention of my dog. This was truly mortifying; for he kept his eyes fixed on the squirrel. With my hand I threatened the little beast; but he actually set up his back and defied me, becoming even more passionate than before; till, all of a sudden, as if purposely to alarm the game, he dropped plump within a couple of yards of Rover's nose. This was too much for the latter to bear, so he gave a bounce and sprang upon the impertinent squirrel; who, in a second, was out of his reach, cocking his tail and shewing his teeth, on the identical bough where he had sat before. Away flew all the wild fowl, and my sport was completely marred. My gun went involuntarily to my shoulder to shoot the squirrel; but I felt I was about to commit an act of sheer revenge on a courageous little animal, which deserved a better fate. As if aware of my hesitation, he nodded his head with rage, and stamped his fore paws on the tree; while in his chirruping, there was an intonation of sound, which seemed like contempt. What business had I there trespassing on his domain, and frightening his wife and little family, for whom he was ready to lay down his life? There he would sit in spite of me, and make my ears ring with the sound of his woo-whoop, till the spring of life should cease to bubble in his little heart."

It is from Captain Brown's pages that I extract the following. "A gentleman procured a squirrel from a nest, found at Woodhouse, near Edinburgh, which he reared and rendered extremely docile. It was kept in a box below an aperture, where was suspended a rope, by which the animal ascended and descended. The little creature used to watch very narrowly all its master's movements; and, whenever he was preparing to go out, it ran up his legs, and entered his pocket, from whence it would peep out at passengers as he walked along the streets, never venturing however to go out.

"But no sooner would he reach the outskirts of the city, than the squirrel leaped on the ground, ran along the road, ascended to the tops of trees and hedges with the quickness of lightning, and nibbled at the leaves and bark; and, if the gentleman walked on, it would descend, scamper after him, and again enter his pocket. Whenever it heard a carriage or cart, it became much alarmed, and always hid itself till they had passed by. This gentleman had a dog, between which and the squirrel, a certain enmity existed. Whenever the dog lay asleep, the squirrel showed its teasing disposition by rapidly descending from its box, scampering over the dog's body, and then quickly mounting its rope."

RATS.

Some persons profess to think that the Rodents called Rats are beautiful animals; and I presume that, prejudice apart, the sleek skin, the sharp head, the long, slender tail, and the keen look of their bright black eyes, ought to be attractions; but those who have been annoyed with these animals as I have been, can scarcely regard them with anything but dislike. Overspreading the whole world as they do, it is no wonder, where they are not vigorously checked, and where food is abundant, their numbers should amount to something frightful. On a visit to Sierra Leone, I was all day at the Government House, and going to an upper room to make my toilette, I heard a pattering of little feet close to me, and turning my head I saw between the floor and the shrunken door of the next apartment, a whole army of rats on a peregrination, and giving such an idea of number, that, uninitiated as I then was (it being on my first journey to Africa), I was perfectly appalled, and most thankful that I returned that night to sleep in my safer cabin on board ship. This, however, was but the beginning; and, in the next vessel which I entered, they were so numerous, that the next time she returned to port, she was sunk for a time, as the only means of getting rid of them. Between these creatures and the cockroaches, I thought my poor child and myself must be devoured.

There is a facility given to the human mind to accommodate itself to all circumstances, for which perhaps we are not sufficiently thankful; and it never was more strongly manifested than in my own case, for both fear and apprehension vanished with habit, and I became fearless of those animated creatures which at first seemed to be the bane of my existence. When living in Cape Coast Castle, I used to see the rats come in troops past my door, walking over my black boys as they lay there, and who only turned themselves over to present the other sides of their faces and bodies, when the rats returned--and thought it a good joke. The fiercest encounter which I ever had with them was during one of those terrific storms, which are more furious between the tropics than elsewhere. I was then, however, under the Equator, in a native hut, and heard an exceeding rustling and movement all around me. To my terror, I perceived that these proceeded from a number of rats running up and down the sides of the room in which I was to pass the night, and who shortly began to run over me; they being disturbed by the torrents of rain which were then falling. The only weapon I could find was a shoe, and curling myself into a large armchair, taken out of a French vessel, and covered with blue satin damask, I sat prepared for my enemies, whom I dreaded much more than the lightning, which was flashing across the iron bars laid upon the floor. I felt that the silk of my place of refuge was some sort of protection against this; but my own arm could alone save me from my four-footed foes. Presently my husband came in, and saluted me with a shout of laughter, which, however, abated when he saw my antagonists. The storm lulled for a while, and the rats retreated: we then crept within the curtains of bamboo cloth, which encircled a rude imitation of a four-post bedstead, but I kept possession of my shoe. Weary with watching, I closed my eyes, but was awakened by a tremendous flash of lightning, immediately followed by awful thunder and a tumultuous rush of rats. Some of them scrambled up the outside of the curtains; but arms in hand I sat up, and directed by the noise, I hurled the invaders to the ground, till at length resistance, and the passing away of the storm allowed me to sleep in peace.

These were the brown rats which infest every part of the world, but very much increased in size by their residence in a hot climate.

Besides these brown rats, a bush rat, as it is called, infests the forests, and is about as large as a young pig. When I first saw this, and felt myself surrounded as it were, by familiar animals increased to such magnitude, by multitudes previously unknown to me, and others of which I had only heard, and yet none of us were devoured, I could not but feel with tenfold depth the Creator's command, that man should have the dominion over them all. His own strength alone could never enable him to walk among them unharmed.

The principal characters which distinguish the rat remain in all countries, but there are several species. The black rat is that which first inhabited this island; but it has been nearly driven out by the brown, which is, without any foundation, termed the Norway rat. It came from India, Persia, etc., and is said to have appeared in Europe after a great earthquake in 1727. All are so eminently carnivorous, that they do not make the least ceremony of devouring each other in times of scarcity; so that on one occasion, already spoken of, when I and my companions stood a chance of being starved ourselves, we felt sure that the violent screams and struggles we heard going on among the rats behind the planks, arose from the meals which the strong were making upon their more feeble brethren.

Rats are nocturnal in their habits, and like to live in subterranean, or mysterious abodes. They are found in islands lying in the midst of the ocean, till the moment of their discovery to us, supposed not to have been visited by man, and yet the question still remains unsettled, whether the differences which exist in rats were caused by locality, or whether they were so from the beginning. There is now no known spot free from the Norway rat, and the greater the number, of course the more impudent they become. In Ceylon, I am told, where they are innumerable, they perch on the top of a chair, or screen, and sit there till something is thrown at them, at which they slowly retreat. A noise is heard in the verandah close by you, and you see a party of rats, disputing with a dog for the possession of some object. A traveller in Ceylon saw his dogs set upon a rat, and making them relinquish it, he took it up by the tail, the dogs leaping after it the whole time; he carried it into his dining-room, to examine it there by the light of the lamp, during the whole of which period it remained as if it were dead; limbs hanging, and not a muscle moving. After five minutes he threw it among the dogs, who were still in a state of great excitement; and to the astonishment of all present, it suddenly jumped upon its legs, and ran away so fast that it baffled all its pursuers.

One evening, when at Bathurst, St. Mary's, I was sitting at work in an upper room, and in the midst of the stillness, heard somewhat breathing close to me. There was no other person in the chamber except my child, who was asleep in bed. Although startled, I did not move, but casting my eyes round I saw a huge rat, sitting upon the table at my elbow, watching every movement of my fingers. I could scarcely help laughing at his cool impudence, and suppose I had been too much absorbed by thought, or employment, to notice his approach. I gradually laid down my work, and slipping quietly out of the room, as if I had not perceived him, called the servants. It was supposed that there were nests of rats in the chimney; for that Government House had been wisely provided with the possibility of having fires in the rooms during the rainy season; and the hunt began. I jumped on to the bed, not only to be out of the way, but to keep the rats from the place where my child was. Two of the men, furnished with sticks, routed the enemy from their hiding-places, and four others squatted at the corners of the room, holding a cloth spread between their hands. They said it was most likely the rats would run round the walls, and they should therefore catch them in the open cloth. The event proved them to be right; the frightened animals rushed to them, were immediately enclosed, and their necks were wrung in a moment. After the hunt was ended, they were thrown over the verandah into the garden, to the number of at least fifty. In the morning, however, they were all gone, but the footmarks of the Genet cats told how they had been removed. Some squeaks the next day in the chimney betrayed the presence of some very young ones, and a fire of damp grass being lighted, their destruction was completed by suffocation. This was perhaps cruel, but it was necessary in self-defence; and I shuddered to think of how I and my daughter might, in our sleep, have been attacked by these animals. It is not to be wondered at, when surrounded by myriads of obnoxious animals, how any tender feelings towards that part of creation become blunted. At the moment of which I speak, valuable books, dried plants, papers containing the data of scientific observations, concerning the survey of the river Gambia to a considerable distance, were destroyed during the illness of the observer, by rats and insects.

One afternoon, the commandant of Bathurst was quietly reading, when he heard a violent squeaking and hissing in the room below him, which was even with the ground, and contained stores. He took the key, and followed by his servants armed with sticks, went to ascertain the cause. On opening the door they beheld a rat and a venomous serpent engaged in mortal combat. Nothing could be more beautiful than the action of both animals; the rat had retreated for a moment, and stood with flashing eyes; the head of the serpent was reared to receive a fresh attack; again and again they closed and separated, but the reptile, although much bitten, gained the victory; the rat fell, foamed at the mouth, swelled to a great size, and died in a very few minutes. The serpent glided away, but was afterwards discovered in her nest with several young ones, in a crack of the store-room wall, close to a staircase, which we were in the habit of descending daily, and where, in fact, I had often seen the serpents' heads peeping out, and had waited till they were withdrawn.

Of the brown rat Mr. Jesse tells the following story:--"The Rev. Mr. Ferryman, walking out in some meadows one evening, observed a great number of rats in the act of migrating from one place to another, which it is known, they are in the habit of doing occasionally. He stood perfectly still, and the whole assemblage passed close to him. His astonishment, however, was great, when he saw an old blind rat, which held a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while another rat had hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted his blind companion."

The amount of destructive force possessed by rats, cannot be better exemplified than in the report given to the French Government, relating to the removal of the horse slaughter-houses, situated at Montfaucon, to a greater distance from Paris; one great objection being the disastrous consequences which might accrue to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, if these voracious creatures were suddenly deprived of their usual sustenance. It is well known, that the mischief which they occasion is not confined to what they eat; but they undermine houses, burrow through dams, destroy drains, and commit incalculable havoc, in every place and in every thing.

The report states, that the carcases of horses killed one day, and amounting to thirty-five, would be found the next morning with the bones picked clean. A person of the name of Dusaussois, belonging to the establishment, made this experiment. A part of his yard was enclosed by solid walls, at the foot of which, several holes were made for the entrance and exit of the rats. Into this enclosure he put the bodies of three horses, and in the middle of the night he stopped up all the holes as quietly as he could; he then summoned several of his workmen, and each, armed with a torch and a stick, entered the yard, and carefully closed the door. They then commenced a general massacre; in doing which, it was not necessary to take aim, for wherever the blow fell, it was sure to knock over a rat, none being allowed to escape by climbing over the walls. This experiment was repeated at intervals of a few days, and at the end of a month, 16,050 rats had been destroyed. In one night they killed 2,650; and yet this cannot give an entirely adequate idea of their number, for the yard in question did not cover more than a twentieth part of the space allotted to killing horses. The rats in this place have made burrows for themselves, like catacombs; and so great is their number, that they have not found room close by the slaughter-houses. They have gone farther; and the paths to and from their dwellings may be traced across the neighbouring fields.

The Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park, are greatly infested by rats; but they are too cunning to stay there during the day time, when they might be more easily caught; so they in the morning cross the canal to the opposite shore, and return in the evening to commit their depredations.

The Water-rats, or Voles, eat fishes, frogs, and toads, besides other food, and do infinite mischief to banks and dams, which they undermine. Their smell is so acute, that they will not approach a trap over which a hand has been passed; and they are particularly abundant in all places where herrings are cured, leaving them when the season is over. The thing of all others which attracts rats of all kinds, is a piece of roast beef; of which they are so fond, that they have been known to kill a companion who has eaten some, that they might devour the contents of his stomach.

Dr. Carpenter was told by a trustworthy eyewitness, that she saw a number of rats safely convey some eggs down a flight of stairs, from a store room, to their own dwellings. They stationed themselves on each stair, and each egg, held in the fore paws, was handed from one rat to another the whole way. The rats who dipped their tails into a jar of treacle, into which they could not dip their paws, and suffered their companions to lick them afterwards, is a well known story.

Rats have often attacked children who have been left in a room by themselves; and infants have even lost their lives from the blood which their bites have caused to flow.

The following instance of sagacity deserves to be recorded. "During the great flood of the 4th of September, 1829, when the river Tyne was at it height, a number of people were assembled on its margin. A swan appeared with a black spot upon its plumage, which on its nearer approach proved to be a live rat. It is probable, that the latter had been borne into the water by some object, and observing the swan, had taken refuge on its back for safety. As soon as the swan reached the land, the rat leaped off and ran away."

Two ladies, friends of a near relative of my own, from whom I received an account of the circumstance, were walking in Regent-street, and were accosted by a man who requested them to buy a beautiful little dog, covered with long, white hair, which he carried in his arms. Such things are not uncommon in that part of London, and the ladies passed on without heeding him. He followed, and repeated his entreaties, stating, that as it was the last he had to sell, they should have it at a reasonable price. They looked at the animal; it was really an exquisite little creature, and they were at last persuaded. The man took it home for them, received his money, and left the dog in the arms of one of the ladies. A short time elapsed, and the dog, which had been very quiet, in spite of a restless, bright eye, began to show symptoms of uneasiness, and as he ran about the room, exhibited some unusual movements, which rather alarmed the fair purchasers. At last, to their great dismay, the new dog ran squeaking up one of the window curtains, so that when the gentleman of the house returned home a few minutes after, he found the ladies in consternation, and right glad to have his assistance. He vigorously seized the animal, took out his penknife, cut off its covering, and displayed a large rat to their astonished eyes, and, of course to its own destruction.

MICE.

The round, yet delicate form of the Mouse, and the better expression of its countenance, make it an object much more worthy of admiration than the rat, of which it is but a diminished representative. It has the same destructive propensities, assembles also in vast numbers, and is equally carnivorous; but with all these, it is a more tamable and lovable animal. There is a white variety which is often nurtured as a pet. Mr. Darwin says, that with other small Rodents, numbers live together in nearly desert places, as long as there are a few blades of vegetation left; and that they swarm on the borders of salt-lakes, where not a drop of fresh water can be procured. Some of them lay up stores of food, especially those which inhabit northern countries.

Field mice do an infinity of harm to young plantations, by nibbling off the young shoots, and, in order to catch them, pits from eighteen to twenty inches deep, are sunk in the soil, which are wider at the bottom than the top, so that they cannot easily get out. One hundred thousand were destroyed in this manner in the Forest of Dean, and about the same number in the New Forest. They make very beautiful round nests, of curiously plaited blades of wheat, split into narrow strips with their teeth, and in them will often be found nine little mice. These nests are suspended to some stalks, or thistles.