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An open window or skylight or a chimney are their chief places of ingress, and once inside
the building (e.g., a bank, where sacks of papers are stored in large quantities in the basement),
they find ample shelter for nesting and breeding. Their food is obtained from the kitchen
and dining rooms which most of the large banks and insurance companies have on their
premises, and from the garbage bins, which are seldom adequately protected. This, of course,
is the difficulty. The object of rat-proofing a building, so that rats can find no place of
harbourage in the actual structure, is defeated if large quantities of unmoved stores, waste
paper, etc., are piled in the rooms. The black rat, too, needs less water than the brown rat,
and whatever care is taken to protect drinking water cisterns, these vermin can generally
find sufficient for their needs from sinks or dripping taps, fire buckets and uncovered closet
pans. Food, water and undisturbed shelter are' the attractions for rats. Protect all food
and water adequately, eliminate all places of refuge, and the rat trouble will lessen. It has
been stated in the Press that the Leicestershire mines are free of rats and mice for the first
time in the memory of the oldest pitman, the vermin having been starved to death during
the Coal Strike, which lasted over six months.