N(jtl:s and que lilies. -mc, 



NOTES ANJ) QUERIES. 



M A 1\I M A L I A . 



Rats Eating the Eggs of Poultry. — I calways tliouglit it was a well- 

 known fact that tho eggs of poultry or, in fact, any birds, would be 

 taken by Rats if there were any chance of their getting at them ; but 

 from tho notices in the ' Zoologist ' for last montli there seems on the 

 part of some of your correspondents some doubt on the subject. Mr. 

 Butterfiold speaks of nests in a wood where there is a stream running 

 — I scarcely like to suggest such an idea, but were all or most of the 

 Eats there Water-Rats or Voles ? for I cannot otherwise understand 

 how the nests escaped, if the Rats wore ordinary Norway Rats. My 

 experience is that the Norway Rat will take, or break and eat, every 

 egg where it has the opportunity. There is another interesting ques- 

 tion on this subject : How does a Rat remove an egg without breaking 

 the shell ? They must somehow accomplish this feat, for eggs have 

 often been found in the burrows of Rats, and no hole can be discovered 

 in the shell after the most careful examination. From the great 

 number of poultry eggs I have seen in Rats' holes, I feel sure the 

 Rat does destroy, very largely, all kinds of eggs, not sparing those of 

 tiie Pheasant and Partridge if the nests are placed on banks of hedge- 

 rows. I have already made this note too long, or I would have given 

 many instances proving the correctness of the statement that Rats 

 do consume eggs when they have the opportunity. — Henry Laver 

 (Colchester). 



Rats and Eggs. — Mr. J. Steele Elliott asks whether definite proof 

 can be given of Rats eating eggs. I came across one rather striking 

 instance of this practice. On May 7th, 1907, 1 was at a small breeding- 

 colony of Black-headed Gulls on a Co. Leitrim lake. The birds were 

 nesting on two little islands. On one of these the nests contained 

 the usual clutches of three eggs, and in a few cases four, but on the 

 other island no nest had more than a single egg. The explanation 

 was there in the shape of piles of empty egg-shells at the entrances 

 to several Rat-holes. The Rats presumably took the eggs daily, or 

 nightly, from every nest. It was in the afternoon that I was on the 

 island. The nests on the other island were very crowded, some even 

 inside a little round cairn. — J. M. Mo William (Craigmore, Bute). 



