CHAP, vn.] RATS. 69 



follows : For the space of a fortnight feed the rats with good 

 wholesome meal and water in some quiet room or cellar accessible 

 to all these troublesome inmates of your house. At first two or 

 three rats may find it out ; these are sure to lead others to the 

 place, till the whole company of freebooters go for their share. 

 As soon as you see that they seem to have collected in numbers 

 in your feeding-room, season your meal with plenty of arsenic, 

 and you may be pretty sure of its being all devoured. Continue 

 giving them this till you find no more come, and by that time 

 probably there are none left alive in the house. The only danger 

 is, that some of them may die behind the wainscots of your 

 rooms, in which case you must either open the place and search 

 till you find the dead animal, or you must vacate that room till 

 the dreadful stench is over. That rats carry off hens' and even 

 turkeys' eggs to some considerable distance is a fact ; how they 

 accomplish this feat I should like to know, as they do it without 

 breaking the shell, or -leaving any mark upon it. A crow or 

 magpie, Columbus like, shortens the difficulty by sticking the 

 lower mandible of his bill into a hen's egg when he wants to 

 carry it off, but this is beyond a rat's capabilities ; nevertheless, 

 eggs form one of their favourite repasts. The increase of rats, 

 if left to breed in peace, would exceed that of almost any other 

 animal, as they produce broods of six or eight young ones in 

 rapid succession, throughout the greatest part of the year. In 

 building a nest for her young, the female carries off every soft 

 substance which she can find ; pieces of lace, cloth, and above 

 all, paper, seem to be her favourite lining. 



The natural destroyers in this country of this obnoxious animal 

 seem to be, the hen-harrier, the falcon, the long-eared and the 

 tawny owl, cats, weasels, and stoats ; and, ante omncs, boys of 

 every age and grade wage war to the knife against rats, where- 

 ever and whenever they can find them. 



As for rat-catchers find me an honest one, and I will forfeit 

 my name. I would as soon admit a colony of rats themselves, 

 as one of these gentry to my house, not but what I have amused 

 myself by learning slight tricks of the trade from one of these 

 representatives of roguery and unblushing effrontery, but, fas est 

 et ab hoste doceri. Rats swarm about the small towns in this 

 countrv where the herrings are cured, living amongst the stones 



