118 GAME PKESEKYEKS AXD BIRD PRESERVERS. 



following tliem up the Paris sewers, for in- 

 stance ? 



One or two gentlemen seem to think that 

 rats have increased for want of large hawks to 

 kill them. Why, these birds would have to be 

 sufficiently numerous to darken the air to be of 

 the least use. And, as Mr. E. Gray states, ' rats 

 are not exposed to hawks' attacks.' They are 

 nocturnal in their|habits for one reason, and 

 while it is comparatively rare to find a grey rat 

 one hundred yards from a house it is still rarer 

 to find one of the larger hawks so near to man's 

 habitation. 



We should have been inclined to hazard the 

 opinion that our four largest birds of prey, the 

 eagle, the falcon, the buzzard, and the hen 

 harrier, have not yet seen a house rat since the 

 creation, although we have known the two last 

 named hawks come near enough to the lonely 

 cottages of the Highland shepherds to carry off 

 their hens in winter. But Mr. W. C. Angus 

 says ' he has opened the stomachs of hundreds 



