Rat generally eats all round the turnip and leaves the centre to the la st; whereas
a rabbit begins at the side and works right across to the other side. A Rat
bites off the skin or rind and leaves|?t in little pellets around the b u lb ; ;^ ,
rabbit eats skin and all.’
Meal, dog-biscuits, carrots, truffles, the bark of fruit trees, fruit, eggs,
chickens, young rabbits, moles, and especially young ducks are favourite items
in the bill of fare. An interesting example of the Rat’s cleverness is related
by Mr. Harting,1 who thus quotes Mr. T. W. Kirk, of the Colonial Museum,
Wellington, New Zealand:
‘ I was standing in a doorway of a large shed, the further end of which
had been partitioned off with bars to form a fowl-house, when I was attracted
by a gnawing and scraping noise. Turning round I saw a Rat run from a
large dog-biscuit which was lying on the floor and pass through the bars. Being
curious to watch if he would return, I kept quiet, and presently saw a well-grown
specimen of the common Brown Rat {Mus decumanus) come cautiously forward,
and after nibbling for a short time at the biscuit drag it towards the bars, which
are only two inches apart, and would not allow the biscuit to pass. After several
unsuccessful attempts he left it, and in about five minutes returned with another
Rat, rather smaller than himself. He then came through the bars, and, pushing
his * nose under the biscuit, gradually tipped it oil edge, Rat number two pulling
vigorously from the other side: by this means they finally succeeded in getting a
four-inch biscuit through a two-inch aperture. . . . I think the conduct of these
animals showed a wonderful amount of intelligence. It was evident that the first
Rat saw that to get the biscuit through the bars it was necessary that it should
be on its edge, and not being able to tip it and pull at the same time he gained
the assistance of a friend.’
Edward Jesse in his ‘ Gleanings in Natural History’ tells how Rats attacked
a pear tree at Hampton Court. They descended from the projecting eaves o f the
building on to the branches of the tree and fed on its leaves and tender shoots.
They are also able to carry and remove eggs, and do so in the same
manner as the stoat, by pushing them along between the fore legs. Rats
may often be seen swimming and diving in still waters, and in winter they are
sometimes caught in the rapidly forming ice.2 They eat numbers of freshwater
snails, and even catch fish. Mr. James Hardy, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, thus
describes one catching an eel in a mill-race at Swalwell: ‘ Curious to know what
1 Vermin o f the Farm, p. 3. * Zoologist, 1861, p. 7376.
it [a Brown Rat] could be doing there, we watched its progress downwards, until
it reached the outlet of a drain, into which it had just turned; then it gave a
sudden plunge, and as quickly reappeared in the stream with a middling-sized eel
in its mouth. It made for the edge, where it soon regained its footing; and this,
from the steepness of the bank, was a matter of difficulty, which was much
increased by the eel, which it had seized a little above the tail, and which
was struggling vigorously to get free.’ Eventually the Rat had to drop his prey.
Nothing that has flesh and moves on the face of the earth is free from the
attacks of Rats. Some years ago the elephants in the Zoological Gardens were
noticed to be very restless and appeared to be tender about the feet. The late
Frank Buckland traced the circumstance to Rats. At night when all slept the
Rats came from their hole and nibbled and tore the huge feet. The ‘ quicks ’ had
been eaten off the nails and the flesh beneath ‘ tunnelled.’ Similar attacks had
taken place on the hippopotamus, for several times crushed Rats were found
beneath the monster, which had killed his minute enemies as he turned in his sleep.
The instances of Rats attacking and killing children are too numerous to
mention, but the following story, which was told by a clergyman who worked in
the East End, seems to touch the utmost pathos of poverty: A man, his wife, and
a family of starving children were observed to keep a well-fed cur. On being
asked why the dog was sleek and well fed when the children were mere skeletons,
the eldest boy replied, ‘ Father gave sixpence for the dawg, and we wants it. The
Rats was so many and strong they used to eat our toes at night, but now the
dawg keeps them off.’ 1
The boldness of Rats could hardly go further than the following instance: 2
‘ I have a fox terrier acting foster mother to three cocker spaniel puppies now
three weeks old. Two nights ago the smallest of the puppies was carried off by
rats, and the remaining two were gnawed about the head. There were no signs
of the missing puppy. What makes it more remarkable still is the fact that the
terrier is a first-rate ratter and a splendid mother. I took the remaining two
puppies away, and the following night set a trap inside the nest where they were,
and caught by the head one of the largest Rats I have ever seen.’
1 The dangers arising from rodents were terribly demonstrated at Lewisham in November 1904, when a six-weeks-old
child was gnawed to death. The infant was left in bed by its parents in charge, of a brother aged ten years. When the
mother returned she found the child dead, the left side of the scalp and the upper part of the cheek having been eaten away.
Tramps lying by the roadsides and sleeping in rickyards have been killed by Rats. Mr. Patterson informs me that a ‘ Black ’
Rat has been known to attack a child at Yarmouth (1905).
2 Ambrose Boyson (Field, November 28, 1903).