DF.COYS FOK WILD FOWL. 239 



ill an endeavour to get at tlie food tliey knew to 

 be there ; the size of tlie pound, therefore, ne- 

 cessary to exckidc tlie old ducks who are at hirge 

 from danger can, to a certainty, be very easily 

 ascertained ; of course, the wire pound must be 

 kept from being put out of place by external 

 pressure by a peg or two inserted on either side. 

 Water-rats can be taken in the same way, ])ut 

 the best trap for them is an old single-entrance 

 wire eel-trap, its end immersed in water, while 

 the entrance is kept by a slanting position within 

 reach of the victim it is intended to destroy. 



The only damage the water-rat does is by 

 eating the corn put down for the fowl. The same 

 rat is detrimental to w^illows, or to any succulent 

 plants or herbs in the vicinity of the water; but, 

 other than this, to animal or bird life, this often 

 unjustly persecuted creature is perfectly innocuous. 



During summer the old viciously predatory 

 house-rat seeks the water, as the biped rats from 

 the Commons House of Parliament, and the in- 

 habitable towns and cities of the world, flock to 

 places situated on the sea. There the biped people 

 game, intrigue and bathe, sw4m, fish, flirt and 

 frolic, precisely as the viciously inclined quadruped 



