much of my readers'
time. There is, however, one thing I will mention. I dare say you have
heard of Rats running about in "swarms" in the night. Do not believe it.
In my whole experience I have never been so fortunate as to meet a
"swarm" of these, when I have had an empty cage on my back, and an order
for 12 dozen live Rats at 5s. per dozen. When trapping at farms on a
moonlight night I have seen a train of Rats almost in single file going
from a barn to a pit or brook to drink, and then I have simply run a long
net all along the barn very quickly, sent my dog round the pit and caught
all the Rats in the net when they ran back to get in the barn. For in
these places you must be as cunning as the Rats to catch them. The
quickest way for a farmer to get rid of Rats is to run a long trail of
good oatmeal outside his barn doors, and shoot them on a moonlight night.
I have seen 11 killed at a shot in this way. They will stay eating the
oatmeal because they cannot carry it away. At farms or out-houses you
might poison Rats round a pit or along brook sides where they go to
drink, although I don't believe in poisoning, as one never knows where it
ends--the Rats being likely to carry the poisoned food about, and then
dogs, hens, pigs, pigeons, etc., may pick it up.

There may be a few more ways of catching Rats than I have enumerated, but
I think I have given the best ways in detail. Some people think that to
use

THE MONGOOSE

is very good, but I think that the mongoose is no better than a good fox
terrier dog or a good cat, the only advantage in the mongoose being that
all the Rats it kills it will bring back dead to its habitation, and that
stops the dead Rats from smelling under the floors. I think that the
mongoose is not half so sly or sharp as a good cat, and a mongoose,
moreover, has to be taught how to kill a Rat (just the same as a dog). I
am fortunate in having actually seen a mongoose and a Rat put alive in a
tub together, and the mongoose would not even look at the Rat. And I
maintain that the mongoose cannot compare with the ferret anytime, for
the simple reason that a small ferret can get anywhere that a Rat can,
whilst the mongoose must wait until the Rat comes out to feed. For
instance, if a board of a floor be left up for a mongoose to get under
the floor, it can only get into one of the joists; but a ferret can
follow a Rat wherever it goes. Then again, the Rats can smell a mongoose
ev