252 THE NORWAY OR BROWN RAT. 



During the summer, the animals,, for the most 

 part, leave their habitations about buildings, to 

 reside in holes in the neighbourhood of rivers, 

 ditches, and ponds. In these places Dogs will 

 chace them with the same eagerness that they 

 do the Water Rat. When thus pursued, the Rats 

 can equally take to the water, or shelter them- 

 selves amongst the close and thorny bottoms 

 of hedges and thickets. They even prefer the 

 former, plunging in without dread, and swim- 

 ming or diving with the greatest facility. It is 

 from this circumstance that the real Water Rats 

 are, by many persons, believed to frequent barns 

 and outhouses during the winter season, and to 

 commit their depredations like the Brown and 

 the Black Rats. About the month of November, 

 but sooner or later according to the season, the 

 females and young ones of the present species quit 

 the fields, and proceed, sometimes in troops, to 

 the outhouses. The old males are said still to 

 remain in the fields, each in his hole, where he has 

 accumulated acorns, beech-mast, and other pro- 

 visions, to serve him during the cold season. They 

 do not become torpid in winter; but/ in fine days, 

 are often observed to venture abroad out of their 

 holes. 



The females produce young ones generally more 

 than twice in the year; and at each litter they have 

 as many as from ten to twenty in number. M. de 

 Buflfon informs us, that when these animals were 



first 



