Part 61 (2/2)

DESCRIPTION.--”Muzzle rather short and broad; ear large and rounded, its height considerably exceeding the distance between the inner canthus and the front of the muzzle, spa.r.s.ely clad with short hairs; feet well developed; hind foot moderately long; pads prominent; claws compressed, strong, curved, and sharp; tail coa.r.s.ely ringed, three rings to one-tenth of an inch; upper surface dark rich brown, with intermixed pale hairs, with broad brown tips, the sides of the face below the moustachial area, chin, throat, and all the under-parts yellowish washed with rufous; the ears and tail dusky brown; feet pale yellowish, and more or less brownish above; the tail varies in length, but is generally longer than the body and head, although it may occasionally fall short of that length” ('Anat. and Zool. Res.' pp, 306, 307).

SIZE.--Head and body, 5.70 inches; tail, 5.65 inches. An adult female had a much longer tail.

NO. 339. MUS INFRALINEATUS.

_The Striped-bellied Rat_ (_Jerdon's No. 178_).

HABITAT.--Madras; Bustar forests.

DESCRIPTION.--”Above, the fur fulvous, with the shorter hairs lead coloured; throat, breast, and belly pure white, with a central pale fulvous brown streak; tail slightly hairy.”--_Jerdon_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 5-1/2 inches; tail, not quite 5 inches; another about 5 inches; tail, 4-1/4 inches.

Jerdon calls this a field rat in his popular name for it, but I think that the term should be restricted to the _Nesokia_ or true field and earth-burrowing rats. He is of opinion that Gray's _Mus fulvescens_ from Nepal is the same, the description tallying to some extent, concluding with: ”in one specimen a central yellow streak,”

i.e. on the belly.

NO. 340. MUS BRUNNEUS.

_The Tree Rat_ (_Jerdon's. No. 179_).

HABITAT.--India and Ceylon. The common house rat of Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--Above rusty brown; below rusty, more or less albescent; extremities pale, almost flesh-coloured; ears rather long; head rather elongated; tail equal to and sometimes exceeding head and body.

SIZE.--Head and body, from 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 inches; tail, from 9 to 9-1/2 inches.

Jerdon states that this rat, which Dr. Gray considered identical with _M. dec.u.ma.n.u.s_ (_see_ 'Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.' vol. xv. 1845, p.

267), ”is to be found throughout India, not habitually living in holes, but coming into houses at night; and, as Blyth remarks, often found resting during the day on the _jhil-mil_ or venetian blinds.

It makes a nest in mango-trees or in thick bushes and hedges. Hodgson calls it the common house rat of Nepal, and Kellaart also calls it the small house rat of Trincomalee.” It is probable that this is the rat which used to trouble me much on the outskirts of the station of Nagpore. It used to come in at night, evidently from outside, for the house was not one in which even a mouse could have got shelter, with masonry roof, and floors paved with stone flags. Kellaart evidently considered it as distinct from _M. dec.u.ma.n.u.s_, which he stated to be rare in houses in the town of Trincomalee, though abundant in the dockyard.

NO. 341. MUS RUFESCENS.

_The Rufescent Tree Rat_ (_Jerdon's No. 180_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Gachua-indur_, Bengali; _Ghas-meeyo_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--India generally; Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur above pale yellowish-brown; under fur lead coloured, mixed with longer piles of stiff, broad, plumbeous black tipped hairs; head long; muzzle narrow; whiskers long and black; ears large, subovate, slightly clad with fine hairs; eyes large; incisor teeth yellow; feet brownish above, but the sides and toes are whitish; tail longer than head and body.

SIZE.--Head and body, from 5-1/2 to 7-1/2 inches; tail from 6-1/2 to 8-1/2 inches.

This is _M. flavescens_ of Elliot, and is so noticed in Kellaart's 'Prodromus.' He calls it ”the white-bellied tree-rat of Ceylon,” and he states that it lives on trees or in the ceiling of houses in preference to the lower parts. Sir Walter Elliot observed it chiefly in stables and out-houses at Dharwar. According to Buchanan-Hamilton it makes its nests in cocoanut-trees and bamboos, bringing forth five or six young in August and September. ”They eat grains, which they collect in their nests, also young cocoanuts. They enter houses at night, but do not live there.” Kellaart's _M. tetragonurus_ is a variety of this, if not identical.

NO. 342. MUS NIVEIVENTER.

<script>