G8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS, [CHAP. VIT. 



appetite, that fowls and ducks, old or young, pigeons, rabbits, 

 all fall a prey to them. Adepts in climbing as well as in under- 

 mining, they get at everything, dead or alive. They reach 

 game, although hung most carefully in a larder, by climbing the 

 wall, and clinging to beam or rope till they get at it ; they then 

 devour and destroy all that can be reached. I have frequently 

 known them in this manner destroy a larder fijjl of game in a 

 single night. They seem to commence with the hjnd legs_ of the 

 hares, and to eat downwards, hollowing the animal out as it hangs 

 up, till nothing but the skin is left. In the fields, to which the 

 rats betake themselves in the summer time, not only corn, but 

 game, and eggs of all kinds, fall to their share. 



Mr. Waterton says that no house in England has more suffered 

 from the Hanoverian rats than his own ; I don't doubt it in 

 every sense. The poor water-rat is a comparatively harmless 

 animal, feeding principally upon herbage, not refusing, however, 

 fish, or even toads, when they come in its way. The succulent 

 grasses that grow by the sides of ditches, seem to form its chief 

 food during the summer season. Early in the spring, before these 

 grasses are well grown, the water-rat preys much on toads. I have 

 found little piles of the feet, and remains of several of these animals, 

 near the edge of water frequented by these rats, which they seem 

 to have collected together in certain places, and left there. I have 

 known the water-rat do great damage to artificial dams and the 

 heads of .ponds, by undermining them, and boring holes in every 

 direction through them, below the water-mark, as well as above 

 it. The water-rat has peculiarly sensitive organs of scent, and 

 it is therefore almost impossible to trap him, as he is sure to dis- 

 cover the taint of the human hand. Cunning as the house-rat 

 is, this kind is much more so. Though the former may be in a 

 measure kept down by constant trapping, it is a troublesome 

 method, and there are sure to be some cunning old patriarchs 

 who will not enter any kind of trap. I believe that the best kind 

 of trap in a house is the common gin. laid open and uncovered 

 in their runs. They then do not seem to suspect any danger, 

 but when the trap is covered they are sure to detect its presence, 

 and, like all wild animals, they are much more cautious in avoid- 

 ing a concealed danger than an open one. Poison is the best 

 means of getting rid of them, and the manner of applying; it is as 



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