nr, ) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



M A M M A L I A . 



Rats and Eggs. — Tho correspondence on this question in the 

 ' Zoologist ' has been interesting. I have in two or three episodes in 

 my careci' l)cen much wonied by the doings of the Brown Rat (Mus 

 dccumanuH). When managing a small zoo in Lancashire in the early 

 '80's, I found the grounds, to start with, riddled witii their burrows, 

 the sides of a small lake being honeycoml)ed. I never recovered any 

 eggs laid by the waterfowl, and placed it to the charge of these 

 animals, until I had reasons to suspect the gardeners (!) They 

 burrowed into my pheasantries, whither they came primarily for 

 corn — I often found pheasant eggs, of various species, half covered by 

 the burrowings of the previous night; I never saw a broken one, nor 

 empty shells. My predecessor had allowed even tiie keeper's house 

 to be absolutely underinined, as well as bird-rooms and monkey-house. 

 I at length gave up in despair. Black Rats {Mas rattus) have for 

 years been a great pest in the local grocers' warehouses, in maltings, 

 fish-houses, etc. They will literally burrow into date-boxes, and lick 

 out jam-pots, but never has any grocer been able to assure me that 

 they interfered much with eggs, although one informed me that he 

 had on one occasion, when taking up some floor-boards, discovered 

 several unbroken eggs of an unknown date on the outside of a nest of 

 Rats. In no single instance could a grocer recall an egg broken by 

 them. — A. H. Patterson (Great Yarmouth). 



Do Rats Eat the Eggs of Poultry .^ — -Referring to Dr. Laver's 

 inquiry {ante, p. 395), the Rats which infest my poultry-runs alluded 

 to in my communication {ante, p. 352) are certainly the Norway Rat 

 and not the AYater-Vole. I question whether the latter species occurs 

 within a quarter of a mile from where I keep my poultry, certainly 

 not in large numbers. What attracts the Norway Rat to the wood 

 where I keep my hens, no doubt is largely the refuse which is put 

 into the stream from the fish-shop higher up the valley. I should 

 not like Dr. Laver to suppose that because the Rats on my run are 

 not guilty of eating eggs, therefore Rats in other districts are equally 

 immmie from this proclivity. In the area to which my note refers, 

 this immunity may be ascribed to the abundance of more suitable 

 food. Whatever may be the reason, I have never once in four years 

 found any egg-shells in or about my hen-cotes. I need hardly say 



