LOCH C RERAN. 



shells from the beach ? " If not birds they must be 

 rats," is the reply. Rats ! Did you ever hear of rats 

 eating limpets, now ? "Yes, I have often heard of them 

 eating limpets." This leads to close questioning of our 

 careful and shrewd friend, and we find that a friend of 

 his found a rat on one occasion with its lip caught by a 

 limpet shell, under which it had slipped when pushing it 

 off its hold. It seems absurd to fancy such a strong 

 animal as a rat could be held by a small shell-fish, but 

 the strength of hold of those molluscs is so great that 

 3olb. to 4olb. can be held hanging on to the shells with- 

 out dragging it off; and once the shellfish gets notice of 

 your attack, you may kick the toes off your boots or the 

 shell to pieces before it will give way. So, little chance 

 would a rat have with its lip in the grip of the creature. 

 " I once landed on the Island of Dunstaffnage to cut 

 grass, and it was so full of rats that I was afraid to go on ; 

 and the grass was so full of limpet shells that I could 

 scarcely use the scythe, and had to keep sharpening it all 

 the time," adds our informant. This was the place where 

 the limpet had played at " pull baker, pull devil," with 

 the rat, and had the best of it; so no doubt the rats had 

 been driven by stern necessity to capture the only food 

 available. It is very questionable, however, if ordinary 

 rats have sufficiently studied the habits of the mollusca 

 to be able to obtain a meal in this way! 



With all the wind we have had of late sufficient, if 

 stored in an accumulator, to keep us in power for years 

 the country is a huge sponge, and the rain still falling 

 in "buckets." This evening, however, it came as sleet, 

 and the hills around are white we hope a harbinger of 

 frost and quiet. 



A long-delayed excursion to the head of the loch was 



