Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-16
ENGLAND'S RAT PLAGUE
SERIOUS MENACE TO CROPS, LIVE
STOCK AND GAME.
How They Fatten on Pheasant Pre-
serves and in Wheat
Fields.

From the London Spectator.
The Danes. who spare no trouble to pro-
tect their Important butter industry, have
lately undertaken q national campaign
against rats This has been done partly
as precaution against plague breaking
out in their seaports and partly because
butter tubs are particularly attractive to
rats, for there is nothing more disgusting
than the thought that those filthy animals
may have been in contact with so absorb
ent and easily tainted an article OF food.
In England. on the other hand. no con-
certed effort is made to check the rat
plague. The animals are increasing every
where. to the detriment of agricuiturists.
poultry owners, game farmers and not less
SO of our native wild birds Of many kinds.
The percentage of linnets. bulf1nches war
blers', and other nests of our smaller birds
the eggs Of which are eaten by rats, Is very
large, as any one may prove VINO seeks TOT
them and watches the fate of the nests.
increase of wild fowl, which began after
the protection acts were passed. They
prefer the eggs of wild ducks and marsh
birds to any other food, and case was
lately mentioned In which the owner OF a
duck farm found thirteen ducks eggs in
the hole of one doe rat
Migration of Rats.
In the month OF October there Is great
movement of these animals from the east
coast inland, On shooting estate lately
visited by the writer, where incessant trap
ping keeps them at bay. October inva-
sion is always expected, and as the whole
property is kept carefully under observa-
ton. the direction from which they cross
the frontier Is well known. 1t is very
probable that this march of the mosch1ev-
Gus is partly due to the closure of the main
herring fishery
and Suffolk about that time, and that the
increase of the rats is not unconnected
with the exceptionally large catches of
herring made during the past two sea-
sons. The shoals of herring have passed
all previous records. and some six hundred
Scotch women have been engaged in
cleaning the fish. Sometimes the refuse
is very properly saved for fish manure.
But the garbage of countless numbers of
herrings Is thrown away, and this attracts
and keeps fat the rats in the late summer
and early autumn. When The source of
supply grows less, the creatures move
inland.
In Norfolk this was aggravated a few
years ago by a severe flood in parts of the
fen. This drove out tens of thousands of
rats from the low land to the higher ground.
The plague was such that one estate
the keepers were afraid to go to one wood
at night, SO numerous and bold were the
creatures. 1t was not until after weeks
of wholesale poisoning and trapping that
their numbers were reduced But they had
come to stay, and several circumstances
aided them in their resolution. Not the
least important item in the rats favor was
the almost universal spread of pheasant
preserving and pheasant rearing. If line
be drawn perpendicular to the east coast
of Norfolk inland to Cambridgeshire, near
Newmarket, and thence, in a slightly diff
ferent direction, through Hertfordshre, 1t
cuts one continuous succession of great
pheasant preserves.
Rats and Pheasants.
On these the pheasants are supplied,
often overlavishly, with artificial food the
year round The quantity of meal scatter
ed for the young pheasants and of Indian
corn thrown out to keep the birds at
home IN the autumn and winter is such
that 1t makes a considerable item in the
profits of local corn dealers. 1t is given
the rats will always have their share COM
ing out in the most impudent way and
feeding among the pheasants.
II the keepers are slack in their duty
every pheasant preserve becomes a rat pre-
serve On the partridge manors it Is so
impossible to allow the rat to increase and
to exercise its egg stealing power in spring
that as rule the vermin are kept at bay.
Another factor in the dispersion and har-
boring of these pests is the modern plan
OF building the corn stacks in the field
from which the wheat has been reaped In
stead of bringing it all home to the rick
Sdiu II saves lLe loss TIME and the
expense of carting the loads to the home
stead. There Is also less risk of the whole
harvest being destroyed by fire.
But every one of these isolated stacks
scattered over the face of the country
makes comfortable winter home for rats,
and point of dispersion from which when
the grain Is threshed out they move out
into the hedgerows and pond banks. They
are particularly fond of bean stacks partly
because the thick light bean straw is easy
to burrow In, partly because they like to
eat beans. On heavy land" farms In wet
weather the rat runs are now traceable
Ike hare runs on the downs, broad paths
crossing the open fields and beaten fiat
by the animals feet.