REATIVE NATtfRAL HISTORY. 



1-J7 



EXKRCIBK 101 (Vol. II., page 119). 



1. SNcntcr Icbtic Idcmd^ tit JJunfl }u rcgifrtn. 2. 3Man feirt tyn 

 tiffe Vvai^e Uljtcii i .|.iiujciilKit ijttbt bem QNenfdjcn tic befit 



Vetyit mi ti: .Uitunft. 4. 3n fciiitm lt(jtcii i<ritfc fcbiitb a mu 

 tUciiuihii ... Die 9ttK$e K'llttn nut Srtuttn ten Strmtii tin Sfienige* 

 cm ilunit UiN-rtluiK mitilu-tkii (I. (St jcigtc mir tic 5d>onb,ctt ter 

 !){\Uur. 7. 3(t wrtraute ifym ta eb,timniji in tcr '.'Ibftdjt r.:t, feint '-Utr. 

 uiit Ju-iu- ju crprobcii. 8. Qtorgep njirt Don fcinem tigcntn 

 tin 'iHTtati'cc ftint 'ijutcrlantc* tjcnaimt. 9. &r ftyalt mid; 

 tinen Jhi'ien, u irf> mul; lucigertc, ttn (itrunlfil&cn ju folgcn, rodc^e mil 

 nicinen yKi.jumjen nu1;t ubtrcinfiimmtn. 10. !>cr 5J}ovulat (ftucatcr " 

 .!>e, franjififc^t. unt tcutfd;e vrad)t auf tic lcic^tt|1c 2Beife. 

 11. 1'icin (ikgncr rcic^tc mir tit -fcanb jum Sttcjicn fcintt !B|yb,nung. 



EXERCISE 102 (Vol. II., page 119). 



1. The children could not go out fora walk on account of the bad 

 r. 2. On this side of the river there is a beautiful country-house. 

 3. lie doea it for the Bake of the honour. 4. Within the town hunger 

 and despair prevail. 5. Beyond the mountain there is a beautiful 

 vulli-y. 6. By virtue of his office he arrested the thief. 7. According 

 to his letter we expect him to-day. 8. Along the stream stand many 

 poplar trees. 9. He drew him up by means of a rope. 10. He came 

 into this house by means of a false key. 11. Above the bridge stands 

 a cross. 12. Instead of coffee he drinks water. 13. In spite of the 

 heavy rain, he takes a walk. 14. Below this village lies a beautiful 

 meadow. 15. Notwithstanding his father's prohibition, he went to 

 the theatre. 16. I saw a large bird near this forest. 17. He can assist 

 the poor' by means of his riches. 18. He looked very pale lately 

 (during the lost time) . 19. The rich inhabitants fly on account of the 

 war. 20. He returned in consequence of his promise. 



EXEECISE 103 (Vol. II., page 119). 



1. Srofc ftintr sBcrwantten t^at tr cS. 2. 3c$ fcefanb mtcty ganj glucf. 

 lief; unter tern niebrigen I>acfce jcneS CanbmanncS. 3. 2lHrf unter tcr 

 @onne ifl tcr '^crautcrung untcriwrfen. 4. 2BaS fjattcn ie jum 9c\:cb* 

 tifty auper 3ttctoncn unb Stauben ? 5. >ie armen 2luantcrcr fyoffen, 

 ienfcjt tc 2Nccrc8 bcfjer ju tcben 6. <r bctyarrte trofc attcS 2Bibcr(ianbc8. 

 7. $ie aflier nafymcn tfjren muljcwu'cn 3Rarf$ ldng tcr ecfuflc. 8. 

 <J ifl unter btr 2Burt ein: t^rltc^cn 3NanncS. 9. recntoic$ ifl inner. 

 $atf> funf afleUcn wn Sonton. 10. <2cinc8 ?lltcr tuegcn fctlte cr gefcfc. ont 

 toerben. 11. J?raft fcincr cburt ift cr ciit Gtetmann. 



RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE EAT AND MOUSE. 



THE rat and mouse are common animals, too common indeed 

 to need much minute description, for they are found nearly j 

 wherever man has settled, from the Faroe Isles in the North to 

 the Falklands in the South, and on many an island in the 

 torrid zone, and, like him, they are good colonisers. This is 

 pre-eminently the case with the rat. And just as it has hap- 

 pened in the history of man that a weak human race has had 

 to give way before a stronger, and in the end has been nearly 

 exterminated, so likewise has it been in the progress of rat 

 colonisation. The parallel is a striking one, and even the 

 savage sees it. The Maori looks forward with gloomy fore- 

 boding to the time when his race shall become extinct ; when 

 the beauties of New Zealand shall be alone for the eyes of 

 emigrants from the Western Hemisphere, and, like a philoso- 

 pher, he perceives that he has companions in misfortune, for 

 hos not the black rat, on which his fathers dined, been almost 

 exterminated by the detestable brown rat from Europe ? What 

 has happened in New Zealand has happened in other countries, 

 in our own for example, where the old English rat, or black 

 rat, has been displaced in a good many localities by the brown 

 rat. Many will have been the encounters the black rat has had 

 with its all-conquering rival. But when the interests of nearly- i 

 allied animals like these clash, quarter is seldom given. It is a 

 fierce struggle for existence, and the fittest survives. The 

 brown rat has so far proved itself the fittest, for it has con- 

 quered several other species throughout Europe, parts of North 

 America, in New Zealand, as we have already seen, and 

 recently in Formosa, as well as on the mainland of China. Mr. 

 Swinhoe has described the two latter cases, and attributes the 

 victory of the brown rat over the large Mus Coninya to its 

 superior cunning. The habitual exercise of all its faculties in 

 avoiding extirpation by man may have developed this cunning, 

 but on the other hand it may be that its success over its 



fellow-HpecicH has been duo to a superior cunning 

 before it came aMociated with man. 



The brown rat (Mu decumcmut) is also called the Norway 

 It ia not known for certain where it first came from. It is 

 not a native of our country, and some nuppose that it came 

 originally from the Levant, and that it was first landed in 

 Ireland by ships trading in provinions to Gibraltar. It may 

 have come, as Pennant thinks, from the East Indies. Bnt 

 wherever it originally camo from, it is now widely distributed 

 over the earth's surface, and it rides, an unwelcome voyager, 

 in our ships on every sea. Hence, wherever man opens out 

 now commercial fields, there it soon settles, and holds absolute 

 sway over its kind. They live and thrive on board ship to an 

 alarming extent, and must owe their introduction to many 

 countries to having been delivered there with parts of cargoes. 

 Its first appearance in England is said to have occurred about 

 the middle of the last century. But where is it not to be found 

 now P It is a ferocious animal, and this, coupled with a certain 

 degree of intelligence, generally directed against the interests 

 of man, makes it a pest wherever it has chosen to take up its 

 abode. 



So far as food is concerned, it will subsist on corn, seeds, and 

 the fodder provided for our beasts of burden, but it appears to 

 have a decided preference for animal food. They have exhibited 

 their voracity at the horse slaughter-houses of Montfaucon, 

 near Paris, in an alarming manner. The carcases of horses 

 slaughtered during the day-time, sometimes to the number of 

 thirty-five, have been picked to the bone in the course of a 

 single night. 



In a well known poem, Southey has given us an example of 

 the voracity of the rat in the fearful end which befel the wicked 

 Bishop Hatto. It was a time of famine in Mayenoe, and the 

 starving poor importuned the Bishop to give them food from 

 his well-stored granaries. To get rid of them, he invited them 

 to his large barn, and when it was as full as it could hold of 

 women and children, he made fast the door, and set the barn on 

 fire. In the morning, after a good night's sleep, he found upon 

 entering his hall, that the rats had eaten up his picture out of 

 its frame. A messenger next came to tell him that the rats 

 had eaten up all the corn that was stored in his granaries. He 

 was then obliged to fly before them for fear of being devoured, 

 and he took refuge in his tower on the Bhine. Here, however, 

 the rats found him, 



" And in at the windows, and in at the door, 

 And through the walls helter-skelter they pour, 

 And down from the ceiling, and up through the floor, 

 From the right and the left, from behind and before, 

 Prom within and without, from above and below, 

 And all at once to the bishop they go. 



" They have whetted their teeth against the stones, 

 And now they pick the bishop's bones ; 

 They gnawed the flesh from every limb, 

 For they were sent to do judgment on him." 



On the testimony of Mr. Robert Stevenson we have a more 

 modern instance of their determined ferocity and voracity, in 

 the death of a collier who met with Bishop Hatto's fate. It 

 is thus recorded by Professor Bell : " In a coal-pit, in which 

 many horses were employed, the rats which fed upon the fodder 

 provided for the horses had accumulated in great multitudes. 

 It was customary in holiday times to bring to the surface the 

 horses and fodder, and to close the pit for the time. On one 

 occasion when the holiday had extended to ten days or a fort- 

 night, during which the rats had been deprived of food, on 

 reopening the pit, the first man who descended was attacked by 

 the starving multitude, and speedily killed and devoured." 



There can be no doubt, after a consideration of the facts we 

 have laid before tho reader, that the rat is possessed of a fair 

 share of intelligence, and this appears to be further proved by 

 another order of well-attested facts. A plumber having been 

 called in to examine into the cause of leakage of water-pipes 

 under the flooring of a house, found a hole gnawed in the 

 leaden pipes, which had been made by the rats. There could 

 be no mistake about the agent, as the marks of the rat's incisors 

 were to be seen on tho lead as clear as an engraving. The hole 

 had evidently been made for drinking purposes, and here the rats 

 had collected to quench their thirst. The question arises. 

 What led them to find out that there was water in the pipes ? 



