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HABITS OF THE RAT, 
hardly suspect it to be so, in consequence of these being, almost all, mere manuals 
of classification, seldom touching upon that most engaging part of the subject— 
the natures and habits of the animals described. This branch of Zoology can be 
treated with success by those alone who have long, carefully and minutely observed 
those animals whose habits and propensities they would attempt to delineate; 
and as, in order to succeed in this, the animals should be brought, as nearly as 
possible, to imagine themselves still in a state of nature, it will readily be per¬ 
ceived that full and complete acquaintance with the habits of animals can be 
looked for only as respecting indigenous species. 
I have had, at different times, in my possession nearly every animal to be met 
with in England, Ireland, and Scotland; and in but one or two instances did I 
fail of producing complete domestication. I have had the Fox following me like 
a Dog in my chamber and the fields;—I have had the Badger ( Ursus meles) 
playing with a puppy at my fire-side,—the Polecat sleeping upon my knee, and 
nearly devoid of unpleasant odour !—white and brown varieties of the Norway 
or Common Rat at liberty in my apartment, and as playful as kittens; Ferrets, 
Weasels, Squirrels, Mice, Shrew-mice ( Sorex ), Dormice, Dogs of most of the 
rare kinds, as the bloodhounds of Britain, Africa, and Cuba; the boar-dog of 
Germany; the Wolf-dog of Russia and that of Spain ; the old English Talbot 
hound; the naked Dog of Turkey; the Tiger-hound of India; the Peruvian 
greyhound, &c. &c., all of the most undoubted purity, and the finest specimens 
of their kinds. 
Having made these pursuits the occupation of my life from my earliest years, 
and having myself derived from them the greatest gratification, I feel it no small 
pleasure occasionally to present the public, or rather the scientific public, with a 
short sketch of the habits and instincts of some one or other of my interesting 
favourites—especially of those in whom I have discovered habits not generally 
attributed to them. 
I had just succeeded in producing a cross-breed betwixt a large male Polecat 
{Mustela putorius) and the common Ferret ( M.furo ), and thus found my little 
menagerie suddenly increased by the acquisition of a litter of mongrel Ferrets. 
When these little creatures became a couple of months old, having already entered 
them at Mice, I wished to try their prowess with a Rat, and for this purpose 
gave directions to a neighbouring miller—whose granaries were sorely infested 
with these depredators—to catch and send me some of them. He soon sent me 
five or six of them, in a large wire cage, which was of that description that 
suffers a Rat to enter, and then renders it impossible for him to escape, yet 
of its intrinsic Interest, but also as a proof that the 44 Emerald Isle” can at least produce some 
true lovers of Nature.— Ed. 
