UNDER GREEN LEA VES 63 
find the wild ducks' nest in fir and heather ? or to find 
a nest on the top of a large sand rock, cosily placed 
in the hollow of a beech stub, close to the home, or 
-earth, of a fox ? Anywhere, it would seem, except 
near their own quarters. For murderous rats are 
there. No matter where it may be in the covers or 
on the lakes or ponds, even on the bleak foreshores, 
wave-washed and wind-swept you will find that pest. 
Wherever man takes wild creatures under his care 
or thinks that he is doing this the rat follows him, 
to see what kind of a job he makes of it. 
If wild fowl that are visiting waters get fed, in 
order to encourage them to remain, the rats will 
come to see how they eat it, and contrive among 
themselves to appropriate the food. No job is too 
hard for a rat, and I can say from personal experience 
that a past master or mistress in ratcraft it is hard to 
circumvent. The common house-rat, the brown one, 
is a first-rate swimmer and a good diver. He will 
watch the ducks and listen to all their calls, and if 
the birds have located themselves on some small 
island he swims out to it, steals the eggs, or kills and 
eats the young birds. If the nest is near the water, 
by the side of some stream or outlet, the rats will 
cross with the young ducks, after they have killed 
them, to the other side A dozen young ducks, half- 
