THE NORWAY OR BROWN RAT. 1253 



first seen in France, he received some females that 

 were with young. He kept them in cages for two 

 or three days; and before they brought forth, he 

 observed that they gnawed into minute pieces the 

 interior wooden part of the cages, and put the frag- 

 ments together as beds for their little ones. 



The inhabitants of California, and some other 

 foreign countries, eat the flesh of Rats, and consider 

 it a palatable and excellent food. Some of the 

 Japanese tame these animals, and teach them to 

 perform many entertaining tricks; and, thus in- 

 structed, they are exhibited as a show for the diver- 

 sion of the people*. 



We are informed, in the Statistical Account of 

 Scotland, that white Rats are often seen in the 

 Highlands during the winter monthsf. 



In France the Brown Rats are sometimes called 

 rats de bois ; but, as in England, they are generally 

 confounded with the ensuing species. 





* Kaempfer's Japan, i. p. 126. 

 t Sinclair' Statistical Account of Scotland, i. p. 487. 



THE 



