52 EEVELATIONS OF A EAT-CATCHEE. 



inches deep, the sides being perfectly smooth 

 to prevent the rats climbing up and making 

 their escape. A certain number of Eats are 

 placed in the pit according to the arrangements 

 made with the owner of the dog. Then the 

 dog is put in the pit with the Eats to kill them, 

 which a good dog does very quickly. 



The reason the pit is built circular is so that 

 the Eats will keep running round, for if it were 

 square they would all run in a corner, one on 

 the other, and then the dog would have no 

 difficulty in killing them. It is better to have 

 the pit fairly deep ; if not, the rats might 

 escape. 



I think the best dog, within my recollection, 

 that I have seen was a bull and fox terrier, 

 which killed 40 good Eats in three minutes and 

 21 seconds. I have read and heard of dogs 

 doing better feats, but I am only writing of 

 what I have myself seen. I may say that the 

 records for Eat-killing in Eat-pits are held by 

 a dog called Jacko, which killed 200 Eats in 

 14 minutes and 37 seconds, and 1,000 Eats in 

 less than one hour and 40 minutes. 



The Eat-catcher has also some very dirty 

 jobs to do sometimes. Often he has to go 

 under all sorts of cellar floors, both wet and 

 dry, but the majority of places are very wet 

 and dirty, for the Eats nearly always come out 



