British Gnawing Mammals 



from under the dog-kennel while the canine slept. At 

 another time my ducklings — then almost half grown — 

 were foraging amongst the rank meadow grass in the 

 dusk, and I observed a number of Rats leaping here 

 and there, after the fashion of a dog pursuing a hare 

 or a rabbit in a cornfield. On the ducklings 

 becoming aware of the presence of the enemy, they 

 rushed over the meadows towards their pens, with the 

 Rats in hot pursuit. Had it not been for my presence, 

 there would certainly have been a tragic ending to the 

 hunt. Before morning dawned, however, the Rats had 

 renewed the attack, and killed no fewer than seven out 

 of the ten ducklings. One or two of them were alive 

 when I visited the pens in the morning, although the 

 Rats had actually eaten the major portion of their 

 backs. Most of them, however, were dead, practically 

 nothing being left but the bony carcasses and the heads 

 and legs. While thus doting on duck-flesh. Rats 

 are in the broadest sense omnivorous in their tastes. 

 Driven to straits, they will sustain life where many 

 rodents would die. They rear large families, and are 

 perhaps the most prolific animals native to Britain. 

 An average nest will contain a dozen youngsters, 

 and the earlier born of these will be breeding before 

 winter comes on. This species is credited with 

 annihilating the old British Black Rat, Mus Rattus. 

 From all accounts handed down, it seems the original 

 Black Rat was less carnivorous than the one previously 

 named. Although it cannot now be looked upon as a 



70 



