I have also tried an experiment with the same tub, which consisted of covering the top of the wet swill with bran, which floated on the surface, and placing a bit of lumpy swill in the middle of the bran, in the hope that the Rat would jump on the bran in the expectation of getting at the swill in the middle. However, it did not do so, no doubt instinctively guided against the danger.

I have also watched Rats run round a set wire or cage trap for a full hour. I have seen them go half way in and out again, look at the bait and never touch it, but go away and never return to the same trap that night. These examples show the cunning instinct of Rats.

There is, however, one power that the Rat is not favoured with, and I am afraid if they were they would be a greater pest. It is the

ability of high jumping. A Rat cannot, I think, jump higher than three feet six inches, and will have to be very hungry before doing that to obtain food.

Many people may not know how fierce Rats are when fighting. Let me instance. I have often taken, one in each hand, two good Rats from my cage before a hundred spectators and set the Rats at each other on the top of a table. To see them fight would be surprising. They will fight like two bulldogs. When they have got a grip of each other with their teeth I have taken away my hands, and they have stuck and shook one another for at least half-a-minute, although you must understand that the moment they are loose of one another they are off if you don’t catch them again.

There are several other cunning ways of Rats which I can scarcely explain. One must be amongst them regularly to know their wonderful ways and habits. Yet another little incident, in conclusion, may be of interest. I once called at a farm where they had been threshing a wheat stack. A Rat-catcher had been there but without a dog, and when I arrived two hours afterwards my dog made a set, and commenced scratching amongst the old chaff left at the bottom of the stack, and to the astonishment of myself and the farmer

I pulled out of the hole where the dog was scratching 73 live Rats! The other Rat-catcher, who had been at the threshing all day, had caught only 14 Rats. This will serve to show that a Rat-catcher must not be without a good dog.

And now, respecting the ways and habits of Rats I think I have given my readers interesting and varied illustrations of what I have seen and experienced during my time.

PART IV. LIFE OF THE RAT-CATCHER.

This work will not be complete if I do not deal with the Rat-catcher’s life. The profession is a peculiar and exciting one, but all right if pursued in the right way. Although the calling takes one into dirty and obnoxious places, there is no reason why the Rat-catcher should not always appear respectable. The Rat-catcher has many temptations to dishonest conducts, for instance, when Rat-catching on a farm or private estate where there are numerous rabbits and game. It looks rather hard lines for the Rat-catcher to come off a farm with his cage full of Rats and see rabbits running about whilst he has all the requisites in his possession for catching them; and yet he must not touch one, but go home and merely reflect on what a good Sunday’s dinner he is leaving behind. This I have experienced many a time, but I have always found even from the business view-point that the old