The Portland daily press., 1899-05-16

than the ferrets. and the widespread de-
struction Is attributed to them rather
thanlto the latter animal. Now that
some of tie native birds are threaten ed
with determination, IL has been suggested
to set aside an islsnd along the New Zea-
digenous species can he kept safe from
their enemies and saved from oomnlete
extinction.
+. Rats and mice are not classed ordinarily
as domestic sanimals, and yet they are
such in fact. They share mans dwelling.
subsist upon his food, and ACCOMPANY
| him whithersoever he goes. Unauestion.
ably they are among che greatest pests
with which he has to contend, and the
annoyance and damage which they occas-
ion are beyond computation. They are
ubiquitous, abundant alike in the largest
cities and on the most distant Islands of
the sea. They have not been Intentionally
introduced anywhere, but have found
| their way by means of vessels to all PARTS
| of the earth. Small islands, POPULATED
with rats from wrecks, OF other wise, are
| OCCASIONALLY overrun by these animals
On the island of Aldabra. already mem
| toned, rats fairly swarm. and are very
destructive to the gigantic native land
tortoise, eating the young as soon as they
| are Matched. Sable Island, off the coast
| Of Nova Scotia has suffered from several
plaques of rats and 1t Is said that the first
| superintendent OF the light station and
| his men were at one time threatened with
| starvation owing to the inroads made on
| sheir storts by rats.
The common brown rat, otherwise
known as the wharf rat )r Norway rat, Is
| of A static origin, and until 200 years ago
was unknown In, Europe or America. In
the autumn OF 1727 large numbers of this
| species entered Europe by swimming
| across the Volga, and gaining "a foothold
| in the province of Astrakhan, in Eastern
| Russia spread westward over Central
Europe Five years later they reached
England by vessels ftom Western India.
They arrived on the Eastern shores of the
| United States about 1775, and by 1885
were abundant at several points on the
Pacific coast. The black rat was this
common house rat of Europe in the Mid
die Ages, and was introduced into the
New World about 1914, or more than $40
years earlier than the brown rat. In
Porto Rico and some othsr islands the
black rat has taken to living in the
crowns of cocoanut trees, to which latter
1t does great damage by biting of the
unripe nuts, upon which ii feeds.
Similarly, the rats In Jamaica are said
to have been driven to the tress by the
mongoose. which was introduced in 1872
for the purpose of destroying these pests
of the sugar cane. Nine individuals were
Imported, four males and five females,
and they Increased with such rapdity
that soon they had spread to all parts of
the island, even to the tops of the highest
mountains. AS rat-killers they surpassed
expectations, but, as the rodents dlmin-
ished, they took to attacking other ami
mails. Including young pigs, kids, lambs.
Kittens puppies, poultry. ground-nesting
game birds, lizards, snakes, frogs aud
land CRABS. Also they ate bananas, pine
apples, young corn, sweet potatoes and
cocoanuts. Thus before long the mon
| %.u
than the enemy 1t was intended to COM
bat. The destru ction by it of land and
fresh water tortoises and of the eggs of
the green turtle Ia lamentable, though less
so than the determination of insectivor-
Gus birds and reptiles, which has brought
plague of ticks and 9th er objectionable
bugs. In the Hawaiian Islands, likewise,
the imported mongooss has wiped out
the native birds to great extent-par-
ticularly species of goose ethat Is found
only In that group, above an altitude of
1000 feet, and the peculiar Hawaiian duck.
Up to date the giant bats Familiarity
known as "fying foxes" have lot been
troduoed, they would find congenial
habitat in tropical and semi-tropical
America, and they might become seri :
Gus plague in the southern part of the
United States. The genus to which they
belong includes about fifty species, which
Old World. from Madagascar east to Aus
tralia and the Samoan Islands, and north
to India, the Malay Archipelago and
southern Japan. The largest Australian
species measures more than five feet from
wing-tip to wing-tip. In that country
these creatures live in immense COM
munities or "camps," in swnmps and
other inaccessible places. Here they may
be seen by thousands, frequently crowded
so thickly on the trees that large branch
es are broken by their weight. They fly
considerable distances in search Of food,
sallying forth In flooks about sunset and
returning to their camps before dawn.
In New South Wales. and more especially
in Queensland. flying foxes are one of the
worst pests of the fruit grower. They
are particularly injurious to figs, bananas
peaches and other soft fruit, and it is
estimated that the damage done to or
chards in the coast district of New South
Wales amounts to many thousands of
pounds annually. Various expedients
have been suggested to protect orchards
from their Expectations, but the most
practical method ia to destroy the. bats in
their camps. A few years ago the minis
ter for mines and agriculture for New
South Wales supplied ammunition for
this purpose, and, after considerable ex-
penditure of powder and shot, 100000
foxes were destroyed at a cost of about
thirty cents apiece Wholesale destruction
with dynamite was suggested and expert
ments with high explosives we're made by
the department of agriculture. Charges
of rohurite and gunootton connected with
wires so that they could be fired by an
electric current, were placed in the
branches of trees where the bats were
accustomed to roost. The bats carefully
avoided the trees in which explosives
were hung, and when the charges were
fired none were killed, even among those
roosting in neighboring trees.
In various parts of the world domestic
dogs run wild have become serious pests
devouring sheep and in other ways max
ing themselves o nuisance. On the Gala
pagos Islands they have helped largely to
exterminate the gigantic tortoises native
to that group, making n habit of wait
ing for the eggs to hatch and then de-