SQ UIRRELS AND RATS AS EGG EATERS. 149 



this he rented for the sake of the shooting, but 

 he soon discovered that the rabbits did not in- 

 crease, and that there were thousands of rats. 

 He went in at the rabbits, and killed down all 

 he could, but they were difficult to get at on 

 account of the large number of stones that had 

 been cast up by the sea. At the same time he 

 was poisoning the rats. The scheme failed ; he 

 could neither get rabbits nor rats under, arid he 

 gave up the island in disgust. Had he been 

 able to clear the place of the rabbits, the rats 

 would soon have followed, as a matter of course, 

 as they would then have taken the poisoned 

 meat freely. He would then have re-stocked 

 the island with rabbits. 



Talking of the curious way in which a rat 

 is supposed to take away hen's eggs, I see 

 an equally curious circumstance is given in 

 " Bewick's History of Quadrupeds." 



He says : 



" It is a singular fact, in the history of these 

 animals, that the skins of such of them as have 

 been devoured in their holes have frequently 

 been found turned inside out, every part being 

 completely inverted to the ends of the toes. 



