Pied Piper Needed In Samoa
p. 32 · Read in the full issue
DURING the first two months of each year residents of Upolu (Western Samoa) witness a remarkable mass migration of rats, according to Mr. H. C.
Reed in a recent issue of the “Western Samoa Mail”.
Coinciding with the breeding season of the wild duck (toloa) and the dragon fly, hordes of large brown rats go inland to Lake Laloanea and other of the “crater” lakes; and there they feast on the dragon fly larvae and wild duck eggs. Around the shores, one sees thousands of rats feeding ravenously on the larvae, which grow to the size of one’s little finger and float in millions in the shallow water.
Queer methods are devised by the rats to get these grubs, but many just dive head long into the water to seize them.