RECENT RA T LORE 267 



respects the enterprise was conducted in the usual 

 rat fashion when a raid is made on living animals, 

 those attacked being bitten on all the exposed parts, 

 and treated rather as food ready to be eaten than 

 live creatures which need artistic killing. Ferrets, 

 which have more than once attacked sleeping children, 

 act on the principle which all true carnivora practise, 

 and endeavour to attack a vital part by biting the 

 veins in the neck. The exploit of the Paisley rats 

 coincides in time with a great increase in the number 

 and boldness of Thames-side rats, which was noted 

 after the long drought and heat of September in the 

 same year. Good houses near the river, which had 

 formerly been exempt from the pests, were found to 

 be full of the vermin when their owners returned 

 from their autumn holiday. 



Fresh holes were gnawed in doors and floors, and 

 it was said that parties of rats were seen at night 

 hopping down the water-side streets and disappearing 

 through the gratings and down the areas. The 

 ' water-famine ' in part accounted for this. The drains 

 and large sewers in the higher parts of North London 

 were so dry that the rats moved down towards the 

 river, where the level of the sewers is lower, and 

 food and water more abundant. A great fire which 

 raged among the warehouses on the Surrey side of 

 the river in the middle of August, sent fresh recruits 



