SOME MAMMALIAN NOTES 339 



had sent him from time to time, at a meeting of the Norfolk 

 and Norwich Naturalists' Society on the 29th. This albino 

 example, which I believe to be unique, measured as follows : 

 Head, i J in. ; head and body together, 6J in. ; tail, 5^ in. 



RAT AND OYSTER 



Some years ago, in the palmy days of " smacking," a deep- 

 sea fisherman brought ashore a " ped " (hamper) of coarse- 

 shelled " smack " oysters. 



These he good-naturedly gave to the landlord of the 

 " Staff of Life" (since demolished), on the North Quay; and 

 they were deposited in a back storeplace to be attended to on 

 the morrow. 



Early next morning a queer noise was heard in the store- 

 room as of something being thrown and dragged about, and 

 search was at once made. To his surprise the landlord dis- 

 covered a large rat with an oyster firmly attached to the 

 middle of its tail. It would seem that, attracted by the 

 pleasing aroma of the shell-fish, this rat had come to 

 examine them, and had evidently drawn his tail by accident 

 between the shells of a gaping oyster, which, on being so 

 oddly tickled, instantly closed. It goes without saying that 

 no persuasion on the part of the rat would allow of the ex- 

 traction of his caudal appendage, nor of access, unaccom- 

 panied, to his hole ; also that the owner of the oysters 

 speedily settled matters with the objectionable admirer of 

 his toothsome molluscs. 



BREYDON RATS 



My boat-shed on the edge of Breydon is never free from 

 a pair of rats, which bring up their families in the midst of 

 surroundings so damp that one wonders they ever rear any 

 at all. It is seldom that more than one pair frequent my 

 location, probably because they resent intrusion, but I have 

 noticed invariably that when I have taken it into my head 

 to trap them, they are at once succeeded by another couple. 

 They never do me harm by nibbling or destroying anything, 

 but are annoying by their persistency in bringing shore- 



