ANECDOTES OF RATS. 251 



the laird's eldest son remembers that when a little 

 boy, in the midst of family prayers, he was alarmed by 

 a rat falling through the roof and alighting on the top 

 of his head. At one time some spoons and forks were 

 missed from the silver-closet. No one knew who was 

 suspected ; but the closet was kept locked and carefully 

 watched. Noth withstanding all their vigilance, how- 

 ever, spoon after spoon kept disappearing, and no clue 

 to the thief was to be discovered. 



At length the mystery was solved. One day a visitor, 

 being taken unwell, remained in the room while the 

 rest of the family had gone out ; when all in the house 

 was still, he heard a long continued rattling of silver in 

 the closet ; and on the return of the hostess informed 

 her of the fact. The closet was now opened ; when, 

 behold ! the soup ladle had been taken out of the tray, 

 the handle of it had disappeared through a hole in the 

 boards forming the back of the closet, but the rest was 

 too large to follow. The rats had for once been over- 

 matched. The hole was large enough for the passage 

 of ordinary spoons and forks, but when they aspired to 

 the soup ladle, the " Sacra fames" not " auri " but 

 " argenti" foiled all further depredations, by leading 

 to the discovery and explanation of the theft. On 

 removing the boards the rest of the missing silver was 

 discovered carefully hoarded together. About the time 

 of which I write, these old buildings were in part pulled 

 down to make way for the present residence. The 

 alterations began with the kitchen, the thatch of 

 which was removed, and the dilapidated walls pulled 

 down. 



These measures seem to have created an immense 

 panic among the rat population at large. So great 

 indeed was the alarm that all the rats at once migrated 

 from the place ; and not a single rat has ever been 



