Rats. 175 



other bird shows such evident signs of recognizing 

 a gun. Chaffinches, it must not be forgotten, fre- 

 quent the rickyard in numbers. 



Finally come the rats. Though trapped, shot, and 

 ferreted without mercy, the rats insist on a share of 

 the good things going. They especially haunt the 

 pigsties, and when the pigs are served with their 

 food feed with them at the same trough. Those old 

 rats that come to the farmstead are cunning fierce 

 beasts, not to be destroyed without much difficulty. 

 They will not step on a trap, though never so clev- 

 erly laid ; they will face a ferret, unless he happens 

 to be particularly large and determined, and bite 

 viciously at dogs. But with all their cunning there 

 is one simple trick which they are not up to : this is 

 .to post yourself high up above the ground, when they 

 will not suspect your presence ; a ladder is placed 

 against a tree within easy shot of the pigstye, and 

 the gunner, having previously arranged that every- 

 thing shall be kept quiet, takes his stand on it, and 

 from thence kills a couple perhaps at once. 



On looking back, it appears that the farmhouse, 

 garden, orchard, and rickyard at Wick are constantly 

 visited by about thirty-five wild creatures, and, in 

 addition, five others come now and then, making a 

 total of forty. Of these forty, twent}'-six are birds, 

 two bats, eight quadrupeds, and four reptiles. This 

 does not include some few additional birds that only 

 come at long intervals, nor those that simply flyover- 

 head or are heard singing at a distance. 



The great meadow hedge the highway of the 

 birds where it approaches the ha-ha wall of the 

 orchard, is lovely in June with the wild roses bloom- 



