68 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [emar. vil. 
appetite, that fowls and ducks, old or young, pigeons, rabbits,— 
all fall a prey to them. Adepts in climbing as well as in under- 
mining, they get at everything, dead or alive. They reach 
game, although hung most carefully in a larder, by climbing the 
wall, and clinging to beam or rope till they get at it; they then 
devour and destroy all that can be reached. I have frequently 
known them in this manner destroy a larder full of game ina 
single night. They seem to commence with the hind legs of the 
hares, and to eat downwards, hollowing the animal out as it hangs 
up, till nothing but the skin is left. In the fields, to which the 
rats betake themselves in the summer time, not only corn, but 
game, and eggs of all kinds, fall to their share. 
Mr. Waterton says that no housein England has more suffered 
from the Hanoverian rats than his own; I don’t doubt it—in 
every sense. The poor water-rat is a comparatively harmless 
animal, feeding principally upon herbage, not refusing, however, 
fish, or even toads, when they come in its way. The succulent 
grasses that grow by the sides of ditches, seem to form its chief 
food during the summer season. Karly in the spring, before these 
grasses are well grown, the water-rat preys much on toads. I have 
found little piles of the feet, and remains of several of these animals, 
near the edge of water frequented by these rats, which they seem 
to have collected together in certain places, and left there. I have 
known the water-rat do great damage to artificial dams and the 
heads of ponds, by undermining them, and boring holes in every 
direction through them, below the water-mark, as well as above 
it. The water-rat has peculiarly sensitive organs of scent, and 
it is therefore almost impossible to trap him, as he is sure to dis- 
cover the taint of the human hand. Cunning as the house-rat 
is, this kind is much more so. Though the former may be ina 
measure kept down by constant trapping, it is a troublesome 
method, and there are sure to be some cunning old patriarchs 
who will not enter any kind of trap. I believe that the best kind 
of trap in a house is the common gin, laid open and uncovered 
in their runs. They then do not seem to suspect any danger, 
but when the trap is covered they are sure to detect its presence, 
and, like all wild animals, they are much more cautrous in avoid- 
ing a concealed danger than an open one. Poison is the best 
means of getting rid of them, and the manner of applying it is as 
