No. 4.] RATS AND RAT RIDDANCE. 247 



assistance, where the cat cannot. The dog is fearless and 

 active, wastes no time torturing its prey, and can kill as many 

 rats an hour as it can get hold of. Where rats are very 

 numerous, man, dog and ferret working together can destroy 

 great numbers in a short time. 



The Ferret. 



Many people whose premises have been overrun by rats have 

 obtpined ferrets to drive them out. The ferret, like the weasel, 

 can follow the rat into its holes and runways, and where rats 

 are not too numerous and vicious they will fly from a ferret 

 and leave the premises, but when the ferret has gone they come 

 back; where rats are very numerous they may attack and even 

 kill the ferret. But when two or three courageous ferrets and 

 a bright fox terrier have been trained by their master to work 

 together, the rats can be driven from their holes and caught by 

 the dog, and thus a rapid deratization is effected. Even then, 

 rats if very numerous may drive or kill a ferret, and ferrets are 

 sometimes killed by accident or mistake in the hunt. Those 

 who wish to keep ferrets will find directions for training them 

 in a volume entitled "Studies in the Art of Ratcatching," by 

 H. C. Barkeley, London, 1896. 



I prefer the quieter, surer method of the trap to the use of 

 any domestic animal. 



RAT DRIVING AND HARRYING. 



Many w^ays for driving rats out of buildings have been 

 recommended. Some of these, like the old plan of writing a 

 letter to the rat, may appeal to the superstitious, but are worth- 

 less so far as relief from the pest is concerned. Others are 

 harmless commercial compositions manufactured and sold to 

 deceive the credulous. Others actually seem to be of some 

 service, but none will drive rats away permanently. It is far 

 better to use some means to destroy the rat than to drive him 

 to the premises of one's neighbor, whence he is likely to return 

 in time with reinforcements. 



Nevertheless, hunting, harrying and driving rats will tend to 

 discourage them from settling permanently, and there are 



