NATURAL ENEMIES 97 



Fly-Catching Rats 



A number of mammalia in captivity have been seen 

 to capture flies, but as a rule they seem to do this very 

 much as the idle house dog will snap at the fly circling 

 about his head. A most interesting observation, how- 

 ever, has been made by Prof. B. W. Evermann, of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries in Washington. At a meeting of 

 the Biological Society of Washington, held January 

 7th, he gave an account of a visit in early July of 1910, 

 at Kokomo, Indiana. He stopped at a hotel and was 

 sitting on the piazza on the evening of his arrival. Back 

 of him was a window which opened into a storeroom 

 for provisions, etc. Inside the window was a lace cur- 

 tain which hung closely, and uniformly covered the 

 entire window. Happening to look at the window quite 

 by accident, Professor Evermann saw a brown rat run 

 back and forth on the window-sill inside. It seems that 

 a large number of flies had accumulated between the 

 curtain and the window, probably attracted by the light 

 from outside, and the rat was engaged in catching these 

 flies. 



In Professor Evermann's words, "It was very expert. 

 It would move back and forth the full length of the 

 window-sill, catching such flies as it could reach. It 

 would frequently stand upon its hind legs to its full 

 length with its fore paws and body resting against the 

 glass and move backward and forward across the win- 

 dow. It ordinarily caught the flies with its paws, by 

 raking the fly with one paw over against the other or 



