356 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



with the rabbits in the same family, finding plenty of tasteful 

 food at hand. 



And won't they fight, these old brutes. I know one rat 

 jumped at a ratter who had " cornered " him, and ripped his 

 shoe open, nor would he let go till he was killed, still cling- 

 ing to the man's foot. But men, dogs, and ferrets are their 

 deadliest foes ; for the man, if he do not shoot him, puts his 

 ferrets in, though he is cautious how he intrudes his ferrets 

 into the holes of these large yellow-chested rats, for often 

 the ferret is killed. The rat lifts itself up, pressing against 

 the top of the hole, and jumps down on the ferret, cutting 

 its throat sometimes as neatly as if done with a knife. In- 

 deed, in a stack they will sometimes turn the ferrets out. 

 One old ratter tells me he once knew some of these same 

 big rats to be under a granary floor. There were three 

 feet between the floor and the earth, and these rats had 

 stolen seven or eight coomb of corn, carrying it through 

 a hole in the floor, for they are very fond of corn, and can 

 be seen inside of granaries, sitting up against the windows 

 licking the dew off, for they cannot live without water. 

 This ratter was sent to kill the thieves. He pulled part of 

 the flooring up, and stopped up all ways of escape, and 

 put in fine big, strong Jack ferrets, and waited two or three 

 minutes, the silence being broken by a regular stampede 

 of these creatures, who ran into a heap in the corner the 

 pile of living rats being, he says, "nigh t'ree foot high.'* 

 One dog flew in and bit a few, killing none, and they scam- 

 pered back and fought the ferrets, killing one outright. In 

 the meantime the ratter got his gun and his elder dog, and 

 as the vermin came forth again they killed between them 

 twenty-seven monsters, though the brutes drew themselves 

 up on their hind-legs and flew at the dogs. 



This old man could catch a rat neatly. He used to nip 

 the tail between his left thumb and finger, and pounce down 

 on the nape of the rat's neck with his right finger and thumb, 

 and he had the beast securely, as one catches a ferret. 



