OBSERVATION ON A PIED RAT, 
BY HENRY L. WARD. 
Somewhat over a year ago I -made the following notes which 
although very fragmentary may have some interest to those giving 
attention to animal psychology. My intention at the time was to 
carry these observations farther and to that purpose I made 
some apparatus to test the rats' appreciation, if any, of the rela- 
tionships between less obvious causes and effects, but a suddenly 
evinced fondness of the rat to nest in the mechanism of the piano 
created a domestic condition unfavorable to farther scientific in- 
quiry and so the animal was given away and the experiments 
abruptly terminated. 
NOTES MADE MARCH 12, I905. 
There lately came into my possession a tame pied rat; with 
head, neck and part of back dark reddish brown and the rest of 
the body and extremities white ; eyes black. It is said, upon what 
authority I do not know, to be a Japanese breed. Its general 
appearance would indicate that it is a variety of the Black Rat, 
Mus rattus. When first taken to my home it had been in close 
confinement for some time and was very tame. It was put into 
a wire bird cage having a lift door sliding upon the vertical bars 
at either side ; the door itself being made of similar vertical bars 
connected at the top and bottom by a strip of metal. For a week 
the rat has been kept in this cage with frequent taking out for 
handling by my children. Occasionally it has been allowed the 
liberty of the rooms for some hours and yesterday evening 
secreted itself and was not returned to the cage nor discovered 
until late this afternoon. It was noticed that this unusual amount 
of liberty had resulted in a considerable degree of wildness. The 
rat was not timid but did not wish to be confined. It was caught 
and returned to its cage where it drank, ate and cleaned its fur. 
After about a half hour's confinement I observed it turn its head 
so that its horizontal plane was vertical, seize one of the bars of 
the door in its teeth, raise it about an inch, drop it and place its 
nose at the bottom. It repeated this operation two or three times, 
then inserted its paws under the door when raised, let lose with its 
teeth, placed its nose under the bottom, raised the gate and came 
out. 
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