HABITS OF EATS. 41 



ability of high jumping. A Rat cannot, I 

 think, jump higher than three feet six inches, 

 and will have to be very hungry before doing 

 that to obtain food. 



Many people may not know how fierce Eats 

 are when fighting. Let me instance. I have 

 often taken, one in each hand, two good Rats 

 from my cage before a hundred spectators and 

 set the Rats at each other on the top of a 

 table. To see them fight would be surprising. 

 They will fight like two bulldogs. When they 

 have got a grip of each other with their teeth 

 I have taken away my hands, and they have 

 stuck and shook one another for at least half- 

 a-minute, although you must understand that 

 the moment they are loose of one another 

 they are off if you don't catch them again. 



There are several other cunning ways of 

 Rats which I can scarcely explain. One must 

 be amongst them regularly to know their 

 wonderful ways and habits. Yet another little 

 incident, in conclusion, may be of interest. 

 I once called at a farm where they had 

 been threshing a wheat stack. A Rat-catcher 

 had been there but without a dog, and when 

 I arrived two hours afterwards my dog made 

 a set, and commenced scratching amongst the 

 old chaff left at the bottom of the stack, and 

 to the astonishment of myself and the farmer 



