94 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



good wages (such as wages are), with a hearty lunch 

 into the bargain. 



No doubt one reason why farmers fail to co-operate 

 properly with gamekeepers in keeping rats down is 



because they do not see the damage which 

 The Rats ra ts inflict upon them. A farmer is deeply 

 Stacks troubled if he sees a blade of corn or grass 



nibbled by a rabbit ; he will make frantic 

 efforts to secure that rabbit which has a market 

 value. But a rat does little visible damage, and 

 when dead is worth nothing. Another cause of 

 apathy is that the farmer knows how useless it is 

 to deal with the rats on his own premises when the 

 supply is promptly renewed from his neighbours'. 

 In a single corn-stack he entertains cheerfully, per- 

 haps, 500 rats. Assuming that each rat eats three 

 pints of corn a week, the 500 rats in three months 

 eat fifty pounds' worth of corn, to say nothing of the 

 grain and straw they damage. In a day, ten rats 

 will consume enough food to keep a man. If any- 

 thing further were needed to impress a rat-cherishing 

 farmer, we might point to the statement that a female 

 rat may be responsible, theoretically, for between 

 twenty and thirty thousand descendants in the course 

 of twelve months. But it is left to the gamekeeper 

 to be the rat-catcher of the countryside. The farmer 

 goes cheerfully to bed, unaware that rats are enjoying 

 themselves in his stacks to the tune of two or three 



