1889-90-] Rats and the Balance of Nature. 325 



localities, and sometimes to a considerable distance. This will 

 lead me to have something to say further on as to the neces- 

 sity for simultaneous action, covering a considerable area, in 

 order to meet this remarkable instinct in the rat tribe. 



So long ago as the period just referred to I found that rats 

 burrowed and bred out in hedgerows then as now, but never 

 at a great distance from houses, to which they repaired on the 

 approach of winter. The wholesale slaughter in the boiler- 

 house had so terrified the remaining rats, that I found a few 

 days after that they had migrated to a hedgerow, and burrowed 

 in the banks at the root of the hedge. As this incident had 

 opened up to me a new field of sport, I followed it up with 

 ferrets and terriers, and by the use of a spade was able to 

 diminish their number again very considerably. Subsequent 

 experience tavight me that one of the greatest difficulties in 

 rat-killing was to combat successfully this migratory instinct. 

 However, by the use of ferrets I was able to have tliem ejected 

 from the numerous holes in which they had literally under- 

 mined some of the outhouses close by. 



There were some old houses a short distance off which were 

 also infested with rats, and I discovered that they travelled 

 backwards and forwards. Observing their track, which came 

 up through a garden, I resolved to try and trap one on the 

 track. The " run " passed through between the stalk of a 

 hollyhock and the wall, and there I planted the trap. Cut- 

 ting out some of the soil and setting the trap as " kittle " as 

 possible, I covered it with the finest earth I could get, threw 

 a few dead hedge leaves on the disturbed ground, and 

 sprinkled water with a branch over the place in order to take 

 away the smell of my hands. On the following morning I 

 found a heap of dead leaves at the spot, but on minute in- 

 spection I observed a pair of dark eyes peering out from among 

 the leaves. With the aid of a stick I removed the leaves, 

 and found a large rat secured by a hind leg. Finding it was 

 impossible to get away, this wary animal collected all the 

 leaves within his reach, and completely covered himself and 

 the trap from view. Having heard that besmearing a rat 

 with tar and turning him away again would banish rats from 

 the locality, I resolved to utilise the one in the trap as a test 

 experiment. I therefore attempted to put him in a bag, but 



