RATS 355 



this season, fighting unto the death for their banthngs, 

 though the Jack is not commonly to be seen after their birth, 

 the mother suckling them, and defending them, for the Jack 

 rarely lies in the nest with the females. Later on, as it 

 grows warmer, the nests (for they young every six weeks 

 from the beginning of March to the end of August, and at 

 intervals throughout the year, young rats being occasionally 

 found in frosty weather, but such is unusual) are placed in 

 cooler places, under barns or ricks. When the young are 

 weaned, the old Jack becomes more assiduous, and both 

 the parents feed the youngsters, being very fond of a suc- 

 culent young chicken or duckling for the purpose, sometimes 

 robbing the millman, fenman, or farmer of fifteen young 

 ducklings of a night, dragging them into faggot-stacks, where 

 they will be handy. 



And when the young litter is full grown, the old parents 

 drive them away to fend for themselves, which accounts, 

 perhaps, for some of those curious migrations one comes 

 upon in the marshes occasionally — a party of rats on the 

 march, the largest and fiercest leading the way to some 

 un-rat-frequented barn or hedge. One old fenman once met 

 between thirty and forty of those " warmin on their trams, 

 and they went along as unconsarned as passengers, and 

 wouldn't budge for him — not they." 



And a hungry horde they are, eating anything — grass, 

 turnips (the chips betraying their presence), eggs (which 

 they roll before them as does a stoat), young birds, dead 

 fish, frogs (which they disembowel, leaving the gaping 

 torsos in the ronds), small birds — all is game that comes to 

 their teeth. I remember one hard winter seeing one of their 

 nests filled with larks' wings, the birds having been caught, no 

 doubt, whilst roosting on their grassy forms on some moon- 

 lit frosty night. A long way will these devastating hordes 

 wander in search of new quarters, across dikes and marshes, 

 up walls, and over roofs (nothing stops them), perhaps to 

 take up their residence in a rabbit-burrow, where they live 



