398 Practical Game Preserving. 



In town or country houses, in corn ricks or fodder stored 

 in barns, or in and about the miscellaneous collections which 

 often litter up granaries and outhouses, on farms, or in the 

 last season's clip of wool, the rats are of a more aristocratic 

 turn, and seek for pieces of rag of various colours, paper, fun 

 feathers, &c., wherewith to form and line their nests, which, 

 however, are of the same shape as those of their rustic 

 congeners. In these the young are reared until sufficiently 

 mature to provide for themselves, which is at about two 

 months and a half to three months old, when most of them 

 are themselves able to breed. The first and two or three 

 following broods are not very numerous, ranging mostly 

 from four to six or seven, but as soon as the rat attains its 

 full size, after the first winter is past, they range from eight 

 to fifteen, rarely being fewer and often more. We have 

 often found nests of seventeen or eighteen at a time, and 

 many instances have occurred of twenty and upwards. Rats 

 continue to breed for three or four years. 



The female when rearing a family is devoted and 

 courageous, ready at any moment to lose her life rather than 

 see the capture or disturbance of her progeny, springing at 

 man, dog, or ferret with a fierceness and determination only 

 equalled by her agility. The male rat, however, has none of 

 these qualities, and takes no interest whatever in his off- 

 spring, except as far as concerns eating them. If he 

 discover the situation of the female's nest, he is always 

 on the look out for a favourable opportunity, during her 

 enforced absence in search of food, when he may step in 

 and quietly consume his numerous family. Sometimes, 

 however, he may doubly " put his foot in it " when seeking 



