TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE RAT. 
63 
in the same individual animal, its likings and dispositions 
will vary according to circumstances. In the autumn, how- 
ever, nearly the whole tribe come to one opinion, and resolve 
to return to the barns and ricks for winter quarters. 
CHAPTER YII. 
TESTIMONIES OF MODERN WRITERS AND NATURALISTS AGAINST 
THE RAT. 
I SHALL now proceed to give the published testimony of 
various modern writers and distinguished naturalists, on the 
devastating ravages of the rat among poultry, game, -grain, 
&c. ; and, at the same time, adduce a variety of serious and 
interesting facts. 
The " Zoologist" contains a paper to the following 
effect : — 
" Towards the spring, the common brown rat leaves our 
stacks and buildings, and lives the summer through in the 
open fields, and many are trapped by gamekeepers. They 
breed among the corn, and, like the rabbit, burrow a hole 
in the ground, into which they draw a few materials, and 
there deposit their young. They are very voracious at this 
period, and will attack young leverets and game of all kinds. 
In the autumn they will assemble together and return again, 
with all their young, to the barns and ricks. But some of 
them," it says, " will betake themselves entirely to the 
woods, poaching for their livelihood, and, from their wilder 
mode of life, soon alter in appearance. Their body grows 
longer and more weasel-like, their hair more shaggy, the 
hairs of their mouth longer, and altogether they assume a 
more ferocious and determined character. The feet of some 
he has noticed were red, and he believes that an ordinary 
observer would suppose them to be of a different species." 
A gentleman informs me, that about forty years ago he 
resided in the neighbourhood of Halcom Hall, the proprietor 
of which kept six vermin-killers and five gamekeepers. 
At some distance behind the mansion, and close to the 
woodside, it was a yearly custom to erect a large faggot- 
