58 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



not to touch the oatmeal with my hands, 

 and one evening, before allowing it to 



BKOWN KATS. 



trickle from the bag in which I carried 

 it, cleared away some vegetation from the 

 side of the hedgebank. An attenuated 

 rootlet defied my best efforts to pull it 

 out, so I left it trailing over the track 

 used by the rodents when on their way 

 to supper. The first Rat that came 

 along sniffed it over in the most critical 

 manner, and, retreating, made a detour 

 in order to reach the food. I rubbed the 



head of a kipper along a smooth, straight 

 stick that grew upright in the hedgerow, 

 and then tied it with string about a 

 yard above ground. The scent at the 

 bottom was soon detected, and followed 

 up the stick, Rat after Rat ascending to 

 nibble at the tasty morsel. After this 

 I suspended a scrap of fish so that it 

 was on a level with the crown of the bank, 

 but about seven inches from the sloping 

 part immediately beneath it. One ro- 

 dent after another caught the scent, but 

 in attempting to follow it down the 

 sloping bank, lost it, and apparently 

 could not see the source of its origin 

 dangling just overhead. By-and-by a 

 veteran came along, worked the scent 

 until it was lost, then looking up espied 

 the food, and tried to pull it down. This 

 proving useless* the patriarch tiptoed, bit 

 through the string by which the kipper's 

 head was suspended, and scampered 

 off in triumph with the tit-bit. 



Rats show great courage in defence 

 of their young, and will swim streams 

 with them in their mouths when danger 

 threatens their safety. They also know 

 by some mysterious means when rain is 

 coming, and, if living in a dry place, 

 grow very restless over the prospects of 

 a drink. 



