266 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



house there was also a brewery. About 6*30 on the 

 morning of September i8th, Mrs Weaver, hearing 

 screams, got up, and found that her children Patrick, 

 nine years old ; John, four years old ; and Michael, 

 two years old were being attacked by a swarm of 

 rats. The mother had some difficulty in driving off 

 the rats, which were large brown ones. Patrick was 

 bitten on the arms, fingers and nose ; John on both 

 hands, the right being badly bitten ; and Michael on 

 the cheek. The wounds were scratches and bites, 

 the marks of teeth being in some places quite dis- 

 tinct, but none of the children were so badly hurt as to 

 be detained in the infirmary. Except that in one case 

 there was inflammation and swelling round the wounds, 

 none of the children suffered any ill results/ 



There is not the least doubt that the rats in- 

 tended to eat these children, and would have gnawed 

 and mangled them to death just as they do fowls 

 and rabbits, and if help had not been at hand to 

 drive them off when the pain made the children 

 scream, they would probably have succeeded in kill- 

 ing the baby. The most curious fact of the story 

 is that they deferred their attack until after sunrise, 

 and that they were not afraid of the elder boy. As 

 all three children probably occupied one bed, the 

 rats may have failed to distinguish the difference in 

 size between the boy of nine and the baby. In other 



