place; but now and then one will venture to seize the bait and get caught.

12. "A fox's manner of approaching a baited trap is peculiar. He trots around in circles, beginning with large ones, and gradually narrowing them until he reaches the bait, upon which he keeps constantly his suspicious but greedy eye. After watching an old fox approach a trap in this way, and get near enough to seize the bait, and then seeing him turn and get away from the spot as fast as he could, I concluded that I knew a trick worth two of his. I placed my bait on the ground and set my trap, nicely hidden from view, several feet away. When the fox came and began his circling around, with his eyes constantly on the meat he coveted, the first thing he knew he stepped on the hidden trap, and he was no longer interested in the bait that tempted him. I never knew this manner of setting a fox-trap to fail in capturing the fox if one came to inspect the bait where it was set.”

CHAPTER XI.

PESTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

"When I was a bachelor I lived by myself,

And all the bread and cheese I had I laid upon a shelf;
But the rats and the mice they made such a strife,

I was forced to go to London to buy me a wife."

1. So we learn from Mother Goose herself that even in the golden age of childhood the bread and cheese suffered from nibbling the same as now, and that, probably as now, sleepers in the night then were disturbed by gnawings in the cupboard, or by the soft pattering of

nimble little feet across the floor. Indeed, we may say that houses are built for men and mice: they go in together, they live together; and not until the last human occupant departs do the gnawings and squeakings cease.

2. The rat and the mouse are rodents, animals made for gnawing, and gnaw they must. The nose of a rat is pointed, and in the front part of each jaw are two chisellike teeth. On examining them we find that the inner part is of an ivory-like substance, which is easily worn away, while the outside is composed of a glass-like enamel, which is excessively hard. The upper teeth work exactly into the under, in the act of gnawing, so that the soft part is continually worn away, while the hard part keeps a sharp, chisel-like edge. At the same time the teeth grow up from the bottom, so that as they wear away they are continually renewed.

3. In consequence of this arrangement, if one of the teeth be removed or accidentally broken, the opposite tooth will continue to grow, until it will project from the mouth and cease to be of any use. Rats have been killed with an upper tooth grown long and bent into a complete circle, or with an under tooth piercing the skull above. The ceaseless gnawings are thus seen to be a necessity, for, if the rat did not gnaw for a living, he would be obliged to gnaw to prevent his teeth from growing so as to fill his mouth and render his jaws useless.

4. These pests of the household live in the hollow spaces in the walls, in burrows opening from the cellarbottoms, in drains, and in all sorts of out-of-the-way holes and crevices. Wherever there is a place for a rat there is a rat to occupy it. Both rats and mice increase with such fearful rapidity that if they were not kept down they would soon overrun a house and render it uninhabitable by human beings. It is estimated that a pair of

rats if undisturbed for three years would increase to more than 650,000!

5. Every man's hand and foot is against a rat: little dogs bark at the sound of his squeal, little boys shout when he is caught; little girls hold him in fear equal to that of the rattlesnake; and young ladies climb chairs at mention of his name. Traps, dogs, cats, ferrets, poison, are all used to rid the world of him; and yet he keeps his place in the household, nibbles the rich man's cheese, the farmer's corn, the sailor's biscuit, forces his way into palace and hovel, and shares alike the rice of the Hindoo and the winter stores of the Norwegian.

6. In cities the rat communities vastly outnumber the human population. Their streets are the underground sewers, and through these they pass securely from one part of the city to another. From them they enter cellars

and attics, and become members of every household. They find a living in the contents of the sewers, and they feed upon the garbage which is left in neglected corners. They prefer a frugal diet where there is no fear of enemies; but when driven by hunger they courageously face great danger to get at the supplies of the family. While destroying much that is valuable, they also do a beneficent work as scavengers. From their place in the drains they devour every morsel of concentrated fever and cholera as it comes down to them, so preserving their own lives, and saving the lives of little children playing above.

7. Then the rat is one of the most cleanly animals in his personal habits. No matter how filthy the streets he traverses, no matter how foul the air he breathes, or the food he eats, he allows no soil upon his person. When we see a rat at rest, he is always cleaning himself. Frank Buckland says, "Never does a rat finish a bit of food, or is touched by a human hand, but that he cleans himself immediately afterward.”

8. In London and Paris rat-catching is a regular profession. The rat-catchers, with lantern and bag, enter the larger sewers and pursue the rats into some blind alley, and then, when there is no chance for escape, they are seized and bagged. The hand of the rat-catcher must be protected by a thick leather glove. When driven to bay, the rats will make a ferocious attack upon the man, when nothing but the thickness of his long boots will preserve his life.

9. In country places, when rats congregate in great numbers, they become an intolerable scourge. Impelled by hunger, they eat the crops of the farmer, and when they have devoured the contents of one barn they migrate to another. They often may be seen pursuing a direct course toward the mow of unthrashed grains, and all

moving together. But the curious thing is, how do they know where to go? Did they send out scouts, or does instinct guide them?

10. Bermuda was settled in 1614. With the first settlers came the rats. Two years later they had increased at such a rate that they had become a general scourge. They had nests in every tree, and they burrowed in the ground like rabbits. They devoured everything that came in their way, fruits, plants, and even trees. When corn was sown, they would come by troops in the night and scratch it from the ground.

11. A writer of the time says, "They so devoured the fruits of the earth that the people were destitute of bread for a year or two." Every expedient was tried to destroy them. Dogs were trained to hunt them, who would kill a score or two in an hour. Cats, both wild and tame, were employed for the same purpose. Poisons were employed, and every man was enjoined by law to set twelve traps. Even woods were set on fire to help exterminate them. "Rats are a great judgment of God. upon us," wrote a colonist in 1617. "At last it pleased God, by what means it is not well known, to take them away, insomuch that the wild cats and many dogs that lived upon them famished."

12. A telegraph inspector of England made good use of a rat to help him out of a difficulty. It was necessary to overhaul a cable of wires inclosed in iron tubes. A length of the cable had been taken out of the tube, without the precaution of attaching a wire by which it might be drawn back. When the repairs were made, the question arose, how the cable could be again drawn into the tube. After due reflection the inspector invoked the aid of a rat-catcher, and, provided with a large rat, a ferret, and a ball of string, they repaired to the scene of action.