U2 
THE RAT. 
the remedy which does away with the utility for rat- 
hunters, because the rats, being deprived of foothold, must of 
necessity be drowned or washed out with the current. Yet, 
in those districts where the current caimot or does not 
reach, let the inhabitants (though justified by every law in 
reason and nature in resorting to any and every means in 
their power to eject them from their premises) still bless 
God for his bounty in sending them so valuable, persevering, 
and salutary a benefactor. 
" But I must tell you," said " Whistling Joe," "that there 
is already a great cause for the diminution of their numbers, 
and that is the now extensive use of pottery pipes and 
traps for drains. Were all the drains of London properly 
secured with traps or gratings, then would the rats be 
kept in the sewers, and the result would be that they them- 
selves would keep their numbers in check, for this reason- 
most old male rats will, at any time, kill and devour the 
blind sucklings of their own species ; while, on the other hand, 
the females, being securely shut out from the houses, would 
find very few places of security in which to litter and suckle 
their young. Like doe-rabbits and some other animals, 
when they find that the male has discovered their retreat, 
they will devour their young themselves rather than let him 
get at them. Thus, by this double species of infanticide, 
would sewer-rats keep their numbers within bounds, if by 
proper drainage they were kept within the sewers ; and 
those who (from parsimony or carelessness) neglect their 
drains, to say nothing of the nauseous stench they endure, 
have the foundation of their premises dangerously drilled, and 
their establishments rendered mere breeding -grounds, or rat- 
preserves, to supply the underground avenues with scaven- 
gers. But in the country, where rats are of no earthly good, 
save to fertilize the soil with their carcasses, they are allowed 
every facility for increasing and multiplying, to the detri- 
ment of farmers and the nation's loss. 
^'Whistling Joe" has given his opinions on ratcatchers. 
Considering the great value of the services of these men, 
nothing could be more unjust, he conceived, than the mean 
consideration they receive at the hands of farmers ; for if it 
be worth a London merchant's or hotel-keeper's while 
to give a ratcatcher six j)ounds a year to keep his pre- 
