in the evening to commit their
depredations.

The Water-rats, or Voles, eat fishes, frogs, and toads, besides other
food, and do infinite mischief to banks and dams, which they undermine.
Their smell is so acute, that they will not approach a trap over which a
hand has been passed; and they are particularly abundant in all places
where herrings are cured, leaving them when the season is over. The
thing of all others which attracts rats of all kinds, is a piece of
roast beef; of which they are so fond, that they have been known to kill
a companion who has eaten some, that they might devour the contents of
his stomach.

Dr. Carpenter was told by a trustworthy eyewitness, that she saw a
number of rats safely convey some eggs down a flight of stairs, from a
store room, to their own dwellings. They stationed themselves on each
stair, and each egg, held in the fore paws, was handed from one rat to
another the whole way. The rats who dipped their tails into a jar of
treacle, into which they could not dip their paws, and suffered their
companions to lick them afterwards, is a well known story.

Rats have often attacked children who have been left in a room by
themselves; and infants have even lost their lives from the blood which
their bites have caused to flow.

The following instance of sagacity deserves to be recorded. "During the
great flood of the 4th of September, 1829, when the river Tyne was at it
height, a number of people were assembled on its margin. A swan appeared
with a black spot upon its plumage, which on its nearer approach proved
to be a live rat. It is probable, that the latter had been borne into
the water by some object, and observing the swan, had taken refuge on
its back for safety. As soon as the swan reached the land, the rat
leaped off and ran away."

Two ladies, friends of a near relative of my own, from whom I received
an account of the circumstance, were walking in Regent-street, and were
accosted by a man who requested them to buy a beautiful little dog,
covered with long, white hair, which he carried in his arms. Such things
are not uncommon in that part of London, and the ladies passed on
without heeding him. He followed, and repeated his entreaties, stating,
that as it was the last he had to sell, they should have it at a
reasonable price. They looked at the animal; it was really an exquisite
little creature, and they were at last persuaded. The man took it home
for them, received his mon