The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1889-02-23
ALL ABOUT RATS.
The whole Family Came from Asia, bus
Only the Gray Ones survive.

The whole Family Came from Asia, bus
Only the Gray Ones Survive.
The black and brown rats are parucu-
iarly deserving of notice, and are the most
widely distributed over the world. accord
ing to a writer in the San Francisco enron
icLs II is not known where or how they
were introduced into Europe first, but II
must have been in recent times, as the
ancients did not know them. They Doth APP
pear to be natives of the central part OF
Asia. The brown rat found It's way 10 Eu-
rope in the beginning OF the elghteehth
century. and reached Britain and the west
ern countries of Europe about the middle OF
that epoch. The Jacobites of Britain had
the notion that they came with the mousse OF
Hanover, as they appeared about that tllne'
and therefore chose to call them the hah-
oyerian rat. They are sometimes erroneous
ly called the Norway rat.
The brown rat is larger and more power
full that the black rat, and they are deadly
foes. The brown rat has succeeded IN caus-
ing an almost total disappearance OF the
black raj in places where twas very numer-
Gus. According to Mr.. Rodewelps theory
the manner in which the brown rat has sup.
PLANTED its black foe is by love instead OF
war. The browns being the stronger, carry
off the females of the blacks by force. ana
Tins he accounts for the curious kind OF part
colorcd offspring which may be found III
France. These rats infest ships, and so are
carried to the most distant parts OF the
world, some of them getting ashore at every
port and establishing new colonies. Inc
black rat is nearly seven inches long, ana
the brown grows to be ten inches, with Il
tail eight inches long Both species are eN-
tremely prolific, producing from ten TO
fourteen at birth. When they are pressed
bv hunger they do not hesitate to deVouf
the weaker of their kind.
The rats never-failing appetite is es-
pecially useful in devouring animal anu
vegetable substances, the putreiaction Oh
which would otherwise be productive OF
pestilence. 1t is said that the visits OF the
plague to Western Europe and Britain have
ceased from the time when rats became
plentiful.
Their sense of smell is very acute, SO
much so that rat-catchers are careful &c
glove their hands when setting their traps
The professional rat-catcher IN England
wears brass image of rat as a sign OF
his business. The ways and means OF
catching them are professional secret
They procure them alive and sell them u
ratpit keepers. These pit-keepers have
sort of hole where they let the rats loos'
and dogs are set on them. Crowds OF boys
and men pay to see this cruel sport INT
skin of rats is made into gloves in Paris
and in Siberia there is field mouse tina
stores up such quantities of dried roots an'
other food to last through the long Wlnte
of that country that half-starved peopl
there hunt their nests and carry off most o
the food for their own use.
A troop of trained rats were eXhlbite
some time ago, dressed like men an
women. They walked on their hind leg
and went through a sort of play, one act c
which was to hang a cat and dance arouh
the BODY