66o 
[November, 
The “ Trading-Rat .” 
Here the question first arises, Do they never take without 
bringing, orbring without taking? Upon this point Mrs. 
Hatch does not throw any decisive light. But she mentions 
that the rats had conveyed away from her garden a quart of 
potatoes, and left them near their nest ioo feet away. Had 
they brought anything in return ? But the main question is, 
Do these creatures at all conceive that they are making any 
return for what they carry off? After very carefully reading 
the narrative, we must confess we can see no evidence to 
that effeCt. Their operations, as here narrated, seem mainly 
to consist in displacing articles already existing on the 
premises. Now this displacement, or in human eyes mis- 
placement, is certainly not peculiar to the rat in question. 
It is observed in other Muridse. Years ago we were much 
annoyed by the conduct of the grey or Russian rat in this 
way. We were conducting some experiments in a chemical 
works in the country, and found that the laboratory and the 
offices swarmed with rats. One morning we found that 
several sheets of filter-paper had been taken away from an ill- 
made drawer in which it was kept; that much of the remainder 
was torn, greasy, and generally dirty, and that there was a 
quantity of palm-oil deposited in the drawer. This oil had 
been taken from a cask in a store-room a few yards from the 
laboratory, and thither a part of the filter-paper had been 
conveyed. Their motive for carrying off the filter-paper is 
not hard to trace ; but why they should have brought the 
palm-oil, which they could have nibbled just as well in the 
store as in the paper-drawer, no one could conjecture. We 
have further heard of, and even seen, other instances where 
mice or rats have deposited, in nooks and corners, rubbish 
of various kinds, not suitable either for food or for lining 
their nests. The only motive we can imagine for such actions 
is a propensity for “ meddling and muddling,” and this view 
seems to suit very well the cases narrated by Mrs. Hatch. 
From a human point of view these “ trading-rats ” must 
be counted a most serious nuisance, since they not merely 
plunder, as do monkeys, cats, magpies, ants, and other 
creatures, but by their exchange transactions they spoil more 
than they carry off. Hence their extermination should be 
aimed at in every practicable manner. 
