460 
HABITS OF THE RAT® 
laying him on my hand, in my pocket handkerchief, warmed and cherished him 
until he became again dry. 
This discipline I repeated whenever he attempted to bite me ; and after a few 
such duckings his disposition to do so became so completely eradicated, that I 
could handle him with perfect safety to my fingers, and after his two or three 
last punishments he would sit upon my knee, and dry himself with his tongue 
and paws as contentedly as if he were in his own nest. 
It would be tedious to describe the progressive stages by which he arrived at 
a state of absolute domestication; I shall therefore suppose him finally tamed, and 
give some account of his behaviour when he became so.* 
VvTthin three months from the day I got him, he became so gentle and so 
perfectly satisfied with his situation that I could suffer him to run about my 
room, and even take him out into the fields with me, as I used to do with my 
Squirrel, and allow him to amuse himself often for an hour at a time, as I lay 
upon the Grass reading, and, as in the case of the former-mentioned animal, a 
chirp would always recal him ; indeed he seldom ventured far from my side, and 
the slightest noise would send him scampering to me, hurrying up my back or 
arm, according to my position, and into my bosom, next my skin—a strange 
nest for a Rat, you will say; and so, doubtless, it was; yet I can safely affirm 
that while there he never was guilty of biting or dirtying me, or any other act 
which would render his being offensive. 
He possessed great curiosity, and would examine every strange object he met 
with, much in the manner of a Dog. He disliked strangers, and would bite 
them if they attempted to meddle with or handle him, especially while eating, 
but was fond of playing with a little boy, a younger brother of my own, who 
was in the house. If I scraped with my fingers upon the carpet, he would squeal 
and gambol towards my hand like a playful kitten, performing a variety of antics 
that would have done credit to a Monkey, often tumbling head over heels, three 
or four times in succession, every caper being accompanied with a shrill squeak. 
His diet generally consisted of bread and milk; meat he would eat, but not in 
preference, as he would at any time reject it for oatmeal or milk ; cheese was also 
a treat to him, but Wheat in a whole state was a perfect luxury. 
By the time I had had this little fellow about five months, I began to wish for 
a Brown Rat to tame and keep with him for company; but before I procured 
one, I received a present of a very fine white Rat from Greenock, which I also 
speedily domesticated as I had done the former. This, I may observe, was 
* We certainly cannot recommend for general imitation this somewhat barbarous mode of 
“ taming” any animal. However, de gustibast &c.-— Ed. Nat 
