PKEDATORY HABITS OP THE RAT. 
79 
destroyed by the rats, the geese took to building their nests 
in some oak pollards near the water, from whence they con- 
veyed their young in safety. But how they got the young 
down is quite uncertain, the keeper believing they took 
them under their wings, and then descended the tree ; but 
Mr. Jesse believes they bring them down as a cat would her 
kittens, namely, in their mouths. He also knew a poor duck 
in Staffordshire, which built its nest in a poplar-tree by the 
water side, to get out of reach of the same enemy. 
The increase of rats (says Mr. Jesse), where little pains 
are taken to destroy them, is something enormous. The 
females are said to breed five and six times in the year ; and 
they will produce twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and even as many 
as eighteen at a litter. The most interesting account of rats 
he ever met with was made some time ago in an official report 
to the French Government. It was drawn up in consequence 
of a proposition that was made for the removal of the horse- 
slaughterhouses at Montfaucon to a greater distance from 
Paris ; when one of the chief obstacles urged against such a 
removal, was the fear entertained by the inhabitants in the 
neighbourhood as to the consequences that might result from 
suddenly depriving these voracious vermin of their accustomed 
sustenance. The report goes on to state that the carcasses of 
horses killed in the course of a day (and sometimes these 
have amounted to thirty-five) are found the next morning 
picked bare to the bones. Monsieur Dussaussois, a proprietor 
of one of these slaughterhouses, has, however, made a still 
more conclusive experiment. A part of his establishment is 
enclosed by solid walls, at the foot of which are several holes 
made for the rats to run in and out. Into this enclosure he 
put the carcasses of two or three horses, and towards the 
middle of the night, having first cautiously, and with as little 
noise as possible, stopped up all the holes, he got together 
several of his workmen, each having a torch in one hand and 
a staff in the other ; then, having entered the yard and 
closed the doors behind them, they commenced a general 
massacre. It was not necessary to take any aim ; for no 
matter I>ow the blows were dealt, they were sure to kill a rat ; 
and those which endeavoured to escape by climbing up the 
walls were quickly knocked down. By a repetition of this 
experiment at intervals of a few days, he killed, in the space 
