382 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



duckingj he was reluctantly obliged to drop it into the 

 water. His first action afterwards was to give himself a 

 good shakCj both to revive his spirits and to rid his coat 

 from the efiects of his morning dip ; and then, as before, 

 he resumed his ' contemplative recreation.' As our paths 

 lay differently, I have nothing further to report of his good 

 or evil success." 



In cutting recently through an embankment in a field 



adjoining the river Lune, for the formation of one of the 



cidverts of the North- Western Railway, the labourers found 



a collection of between 15 or 20 lbs. weight of Eels, some 



quite fresh, and others in the last stage of putrefaction. 



They varied in size from a quarter to half a pound, and 



consisted of the common river-Eel and small specimens of 



the Conger. " As the marks of teeth," says a gentleman 



who was present, " were plainly visible on the heads of 



most of them, it was conjectured they had been destroyed 



by these weapons, and stored for winter provisions by some 



animal whose retreat was not far distant. This proved to 



be the case. On digging a little further, out bounded a 



matronly rat, with half-a-dozen young ones at her heels. 



The workmen gave chase, and ultimately succeeded in 



killing both mother and progeny, with a solitary exception, 



which took sanctuary in the trunk of a neighbouring tree. 



The embankment is about a hundred yards from the 



water's edge, so that it must have required considerable 



time and labour on the part of the old rat to have dragged 



the eels thither." 



