GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RATS. 
23 
or sound of fighting, when, meeting a fellow-rat somewhat 
besmeared in the fray, he, without any ceremony, fell 
furiously upon him, and there was a second battle. The 
rest gathered round, the same as before, doubtless in hopes 
of having a second feast, when in came Milly, whose sudden 
appearance put them all to flight. She threw down the 
pails, and away she ran screaming with all her might. 
l!^ow, thought I, is the time for my escape. Down I jumped, 
and seized a stick. In came the boys, heels over head, and 
I was busily engaged banging away at everything within 
reach, when in came the master, inquiring where the rats 
were. I told him they had passed through a hole into the 
faggot-stack. Out they all ran in pursuit ; but no one 
thought to ask me whence I came, and so I got out of my 
difficulty. 
Thus it appears evident that rats do not cluster round 
these outbreaks for the purposes of peace, but to gratify a 
carnivorous appetite for hot. blood; and that they will 
greedily indulge this gloating propensity, whenever an 
opportunity offers, with any of the smaller animals as well 
as their own species. 
There is a notion abroad that rats, when caught in a trap 
by the foot or leg, will sometimes escape by gnawing away 
the limb above the trap. This I believe to be perfectly 
erroneous, and I am supported in my opinion by a gen- 
tleman, where, speaking of the rats of Shropshire, he says : 
" So savage and voracious are the common Norway rats, that 
often and often, when one of these gentry is caught in a trap, 
the others attack and eat him up ; and frequently the keepers 
find from ten to twenty rats caught in the rabbit-traps during 
the night, though set far away from ricks or buildings of any 
kind ; and perhaps two-thirds of them before morning would 
be eaten by these cannibals of the worst kind ; for," he says, 
" they do not wait even to kill their brother rats in trouble 
before they feast upon them." 
One evening I called upon an acquaintance of mine to 
obtain some particular information, and found him just going 
to decide a wager respecting a large male ferret of the polecat 
breed, which was to destroy fifty rats within the hour. It 
must be borne in mind that this ferret was trained for the 
purpose. The rats were placed in a large square space mea- 
