51 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— MIGRATION OF RATS. 



The migration of rats from one part of the countiy to another is 

 not unknown, and 1 was fortunate enough, qiiite recently, to witness 

 another instance of this interesting- habit of theirs. It was all the more 

 extraordinary as it led them to their own destruction. The occur- 

 rence took place in September last, when I was stationed at Koh Lak, 

 and lasted for nearly a week. My section-house lies close to the beach, 

 and the first intimation I received of an3'thing unusual, was in discover- 

 ing one evening that my abode seemed to be full of rats. They 

 swarmed everywhere, runniiig along the beams and rafters, and over 

 and under the floors. I could see also, from my verandah, many more 

 upon the beach, running across the sands and making straight for the 

 sea. Their one idea appeared to be to leave the land. None turned 

 1)a(;k e.xcept when attacked by hawks or crows, of which they had 

 attracted a good number. The following da}', when going dut to meet 

 the steamer in Koh Lak bay, I noticed several rats well away from 

 the shore, still swinuning straight out to sea, and for days afterwards 

 I found their dead bodies on the beach, washed up by the tides. This 

 1 observed throughout tlie whole length of my section, a distance of 

 of 30 kilometres. 



I am unable to give an)' explanation to account for this migra- 

 tion. The only thing which 1 noticed at the time was an unusually 

 large number of jungle fowl abnut. This 1 look upon as a coincidence, 

 as I can: lot see in an\' way what relation the one creature could bear 

 to the other. 



I did not, unfortunately, keep any specimen so that the animals 

 could be positively identified, but they a])peared to me to be the 

 ordinaiy house rat which is common everywhere. 



T. S. BlTLRIl. 

 Decemher. 191 3. 



No. II.— SORE NKCK IN SAMBAR. 



From 1910 to 1913 1 was engaged on Survey woi-k in the 

 district lying approximately between Lat. 1 4*^.00' and lt)''.UO' N. and 

 Long. 98°.3U' and 10U°.00' K. Most of this area is in the valleys of the 

 Me Klawng river or its tributaries, the reinainder being on the edge 

 of the watershed of the Menam Chao Praya. During those years, 

 between the months of December and June, 1 shot several Sambar in 

 this district, all of which were afiVcted by a peculiar sore upon the 



