€4 
THE BAT. 
stack for the use of the establishment, and my informant 
tells me, that he has both seen and helped to destroy the 
vermin when the stacks were taken down, and that they 
have destroyed between fom* and five hundred rats at one 
killing, all of which lived upon game, poultry, ike, in the 
immediate neighbourhood. 
In the ^' Popular History of Mammalia," the author says 
that the rat is fond of the seeds of leguminous plants, fruits, 
and the melon tribe, which makes it a dangerous enemy to 
the gardener, and that it attacks poultry also. 
The editor of the " Treasury of Natural History," 
after describing the animal appearance of the rat, states 
that, whenever it conveniently can, it makes its hole very near 
the edge of the water, where it chiefly resides during the 
summer months, feeding on small animals, fish, and grain. 
It also haunts the corn-fields, where it burrows and breeds. 
When winter approaches, it draws near some farm-house 
and works its way into the corn-ricks, where it consumes 
much, but wastes more. It also destroys rabbits, poultry, 
and all sorts of game, and scarcely any of the. feebler animals 
can escape its rapacity. 
The following interesting anecdote is quoted from the 
" Gleanings of Natural History": — 
" The damage done by rats is not confined to barns, corn- 
ricks, &c. ; but is much greater in corn-fields than is generally 
supposed. As they infest the fields in summer, I have no 
doubt but that they destroy a great quantity of game, and 
that much of the devastation which has been attributed to 
stoats, weasels, &c., has been committed by rats. When 
these vermin abound much in a farm-yard during winter, 
but little game will be found in its immediate neighbour- 
hood in the ensuing autumn. Gentlemen, therefore, who 
are particular in the preservation of game, cannot pay too 
much attention to the cleanliness of the farm-yards of their 
tenants. It will be a great advantage to both parties." 
The author of the Book of the Farm " pronounces 
rats to be the most troublesome of all vermin, because they 
harbour in the steading. Tliey not only make every place 
they frequent dirty, but disgustingly so. The mischief they 
do in cutting holes in boarded floors, in undermining stone 
pavements, gnawing harness, consuming and wasting every 
