Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-03-21
RATS IN TEE Tops


- "sSn Trying 10
prove oD Nature.
curious and interesting ins,.
a'nais changing their habits owing 10
a,Nred circumstances OF their sur.
ounoihes, or, as Darwin called 1t. their
auaptability to environment came
'naef the writer's notice a short time
igo on the Island OF Jamaica. Wbila
,"Velihg through the northern mart a,
,sa' island he passed grove after grove
VI cocoa-ai't palms. All the trees 6ve
years old and upwards. that il. the fr,,;t.
e".ing Trees were tin-girdled around
'pelr trunks. For Ave feet above the
siouho each tree was incased in a nIato
Of TIN nailed firmly.
nc explanation is strange one, For
many years the sugar-planters in lanai.
"a -, "ere cursed with the ravages of rats.
hese rodents would invade the aeldo
'ust when the cane was getting rine for
cutting. Each rat would select co.,
.noice cane and begin to nibble at it's
oase' gradually gnawing deeper and
neeper INTO 1t until it toppled over. The
crash OF the falling cane frightened tia
rat who, scampering off, soon began a,
another one. These pests did enormous
damage and no small item in the sno.r-
planters yearly bill was the one for the
rat-catcher '"'
Zen years ago Bancroft Espent. a
"eil-known planter on the island. i'm
ported from India six couples of mon.
goose or ichneumon, the deadly enemy
OF snakes and rats. The monpoose in.
! creased and multiplied in an Incredible
manner ana themselves became a nest
Mhlch every means failed to DESTROY
The rats at first fell an easy nrev 70
0helr destroyers and were soon driven
out OF the fields and the stone-wall
fences That had formed their homes
iney swarmed into the houses and
towns, but were still followed bv the
iehheumons. The full-grown rat nv its
heetness did escape for time. but the
mongoose easily scented out the nest of
niue ones and destroyed them, or.
lerret-like, traced the rat to its last
ialr and killed it there. The rat driven
from every refuge, took then to the palm
trees and among the cluster of fronds
mat crown each tree made it's home and
reared It's family in safety.
AT first it was hardly credited that tho
rat mad turned into an arboreal rodent.
otl IL soon became painful fact. for as
the iruit-bearing spike pushed it's wav
out, the rats would nibble it off and rem
der the tree barren. The writer has
himself seen rats, disturbed by negro
VINO had climbed tree for the cocoa
nuts, Jump to the ground fully fifty feet.
But nature has not endowed them with
the nine lives of cat also, for the fall
certainly knocked all the wind ont of
them. and they fell an easy prev to the
nearest dog or man. Owing to this new
development in the habits of the ia
maica rat, the planter has been Obliged
to tln-llne his cocoa-nut trees.
In the meantime the mongoose has
turned his attention to the farm-yard
and whereas few years ago fowls were
the cheapest and commonest food now
they can be enjoyed only by the well-to-
do. 1t is another instance of man try
ing to improve on nature. Not long
ago there was good guinea bird, quail
and partridge shooting to be had on the
island, but as these birds build on the
ground, not one is to be found now. for
if there is any thing a mongoose likes it
is to suck an egg, and he does it so ar
tStically making the smallest of holes,
that the mother-bird still sits on, in
vain hopes of Matching her brood N.
y. Tribune