HABITS OF THE RAT. 
459 
without inflicting the slightest injury. Being at dinner when the cage arrived^ I 
desired it to be left in the yard until I should be at leisure, and in about a quarter 
of an hour proceeded to my experiment. On examining my captives, I found 
they had been fighting, and that one—a small and particularly beautiful Rat, of 
a very dark colour—seemed likely to fall a victim to the ferocity of his fellow- 
prisoners. The first thing I did, therefore, was to remove him from such 
dangerous company; to effect which with greater security, I contrived to get his 
tail between the wires of the cage, and then tied a piece of twine firmly, yet 
not too tightly, round it near the root. His colour, I now saw, was of a greyish 
or bluish black, the stem of each hair being of a slate colour, and the tip black. 
He had four toes on his fore-feet and five on his hind, and at the inside of each 
fore-foot was a sort of abortive claw, somewhat in the place where a thumb 
would be found in some animals. His eyes were very prominent, and, notwith¬ 
standing his excessive terror, sparkled with uncommon lustre. His tail was 
about the same length as his body, or perhaps rather longer, and more furnished 
with hair than is the case with the common species, in whom this member usually 
presents a scaly and naked appearance. The belly was whitish, and the sides 
darkening in colour towards the middle of the back. In short, as my readers 
will have already seen, I had had the rare good fortune to get a specimen of 
the Black Rat—the indigenous British Rat, now nearly—indeed some say entirely 
—extirpated by its more powerful and fiercer Norwegian invader. 
He was indeed a beautiful creature, and I determined that, instead of his % 
becoming a meal for my Ferrets, he should rival them in my care; and I was the 
more sanguine in the hope of taming him, as his teeth marked him to be young, 
which was also indicated by his small size, measuring only four inches and a-half 
from the tip of the nose to the beginning of the tail, which was about five inches 
in length. 
Now, when I mention my method of taming this Rat—a method successful not 
merely in this case, but also with other Rats, Brown and white, which I afterwards 
procured—I am pretty certain you will smile ; but, instead of smiling at me, 
which anyone can do, I should be glad if you would explain the effects my 
treatment produced, which I believe anyone can not do—at all events I can not. 
You shall hear it, however, and then form your own conclusions. 
I got a bucket of cold water, and placing it on a chair beside me, held my 
captive in one hand, and began gently stroking him with the other. A bite was, 
as you may well suppose, his most uncourteous return for this piece of civility, 
and I accordingly instantly plunged my little captive into the bucket, holding 
him under water until he let go his hold of my finger. I further suffered him to 
remain swimming about the bucket until nearly drowned; when I took him, and 
VOL. iv.—NO. XXXIII. 3 o 
