188 PARTRIDGES 



number of the Estate Magazine, how fifty- 

 two of his six-weeks-old pheasant points 

 were killed in a single night by one old 

 buck rat, every one being carried away 

 and carefully hidden in the grass. 



The rat is becoming a greater danger 

 to game-preservers every year, for since 

 the modern use of cement flooring has 

 driven him from many a stable and 

 granary, there has sprung up an ever- 

 increasing race of hedgerow rats, who 

 remain in the open country all the year 

 round. 



Since the rat has been proved to be 

 an active agent in spreading disease, 

 bringing bubonic plague from India into 

 our seaports, and being held responsible 

 for the recent outbreak of cerebro- spinal 

 meningitis in Suffolk, County Councils 

 have been given statutory powers to 

 enforce the destruction of rats within 

 their counties ; let us trust that even in 

 districts where no plague can be traced 

 among the rats, Councils will nevertheless 

 not be slow to avail themselves of the 



