Читать книгу The Rat; Its History & Destructive Character - James Rodwell - Страница 13

I CANNOT ascertain any disease rats are subject to, except the one we have so much cause to complain of, namely, consumption of food; and for all I have seen, they have, without an exception, been fine fat fellows, with nothing in the shape of disease about them; yet, if kept in close confinement and dirty, then, like every other animal under similar circumstances, they are subject to a kind of surfeit or mange; but in a state of freedom I believe they are subject to no natural malady. Nevertheless they are the finest and most effectual physicians in the world; for should any of their fraternity be mopish and dull from pain or sickness, arising out of accident, old age, or what not, they cure all their maladies at once by eating them up. At the same time they are the most peaceable of all republics, for should any internal quarrels and fights arise, they all gather round the combatants, and no matter who wins or loses, or what the cause of contention, they put an end to the feud by tearing them in pieces, and transporting the pair of them down their throats; and thus is peace most speedily and effectually restored.

This, then, may account for the healthy appearance of rats, since they instantly and so effectually dispose of their sick and ailing; and it may be no stretch of the imagination to infer that few die a natural death; but where such is the case, they will leave all other food to dispose of their dead. Hence has arisen the proverb I have heard, that in barns and ricks dead rats are almost as rare as dead donkeys; though, at the same time, there are instances on record of their filial and parental affection, and attachments as strong as is to be found among animals of any other class, not omitting even the human family; but should we at any time see a dead rat lying about, we may be almost certain that it has been very recently killed by some animal, trap, accident, or poison; but if left where it lies, the morrow’s sun will seldom or never shine upon it.

The most determined instance of cannibalism among rats I ever witnessed took place about thirty years ago, at Ware-side, where I was at school. The Principal was a real old English schoolmaster, and the very antipodes of your modern pedagogues. He had no idea of storing our heads at the expense of our healths, or sending us home at Midsummer and Christmas a race of upstart, pigmy, juvenile men. His principle was to well fill our stomachs with the solids of life, and then, if any vacancy remained, to eke out with reading, writing, and arithmetic; but the latter only went as far as the rule of three—he cared nothing for anything beyond that, as it formed the boundary of his arithmetical knowledge; and since it had served his every purpose up to a good old age, why, of course, it was sufficient for any one else, and who dared dispute with a British schoolmaster in those days? His terms were tolerably reasonable, and to supply his establishment as economically as possible, he kept a farm, whereon he used to raise nearly everything for the school’s consumption, as well as supply the market on Saturdays.

The cows were wont to be brought from the farm to be milked in a cowhouse adjoining the play-ground; and against which, on the opposite side, stood a large faggot-stack. Now, it was Milly the housemaid’s business to milk these said cows. Milly was a pretty, laughing, dark-eyed, kind-hearted, curly-headed creature—one for whom nature had done much, but education nothing; yet, nevertheless, her cheerful, single-hearted, innocent hilarity would rivet the affections even of the most serious. Suffice it to say, that with Milly I was an especial favourite; consequently I used to come in for many little attentions and favours; such, for instance, as having a good fill of new milk sucked through a straw when master was out.

One afternoon, when on one of these succulent expeditions, I experienced two awful frights; for scarcely had I secreted myself in the cowhouse when I heard the master’s footsteps advancing from the adjoining stables. You may imagine my fright at being caught oat of the boundaries, when a retreat was impossible. Nor do I believe that our black cat felt more confounded and astonished when she missed the sparrow, and went souse into the water-butt, than I did at the terribly well-known grunting cough of this grand master of the rod. I thought he had gone to market, and I am satisfied that pussy did not scramble out of the water with greater agility than I clambered into the loft above the calf-pen, and as speedily buried myself among the straw. Nor was it till I heard the shuffling tramp of his heavy step and capacious slippers die gradually away, that I dared to breathe, or think myself something living.

While thus listening and musing, with all the frantic bogies of imagination dancing menacingly before my mental vision, I was suddenly aroused from my unenviable reverie by the grumbling and squealing of rats in the adjoining faggot-stack; when, through a hole in the boards, in tumbled a pair of monsters, rolly-polly over each other, and fighting like two bull-dogs. In came others in all directions, till the place seemed one mass of living rats. They all gathered close round the combatants—those behind scrambling and pushing on those before them, till there was not a ring a foot in diameter left to fight in. Those in front, and those immediately next them, were reared upon their hind quarters. By this time the stronger had got the weaker down, and was in the act of killing him, when his dying moans seemed to be the invitation for a general onslaught. They then, one and all, as if by a given signal, fell upon the combatants, and scrambled over each other’s backs—those behind struggling hard to be in at the death, till nothing of the victims was seen. Indeed they looked like a mound of rats, or all backs and tails. Presently there was a most violent and general struggle; so that you would have thought they were all fighting together. When one ran away, he was followed by others scrambling for a piece. Then a second, a third, and so on, till the combatants were torn to tatters; and then came the quarrelling, grumbling, and scranching of bones—’twas enough to make one’s hair stand on end. No sooner were they demolished, than in came a large fellow, evidently attracted either by the smell of blood, or sound of fighting, when, meeting a fellow-rat somewhat besmeared in the fray, he, without any ceremony, fell furiously upon him, and there was a second battle. The rest gathered round, the same as before, doubtless in hopes of having a second feast, when in came Milly, whose sudden appearance put them all to flight. She threw down the pails, and away she ran screaming with all her might. Now, thought I, is the time for my escape. Down I jumped, and seized a stick. In came the boys, heels over head, and I was busily engaged banging away at everything within reach, when in came the master, inquiring where the rats were. I told him they had passed through a hole into the faggot-stack. Out they all ran in pursuit; but no one thought to ask me whence I came, and so I got out of my difficulty.

Thus it appears evident that rats do not cluster round these outbreaks for the purposes of peace, but to gratify a carnivorous appetite for hot blood; and that they will greedily indulge this gloating propensity, whenever an opportunity offers, with any of the smaller animals as well as their own species.

There is a notion abroad that rats, when caught in a trap by the foot or leg, will sometimes escape by gnawing away the limb above the trap. This I believe to be perfectly erroneous, and I am supported in my opinion by a gentleman, where, speaking of the rats of Shropshire, he says: “So savage and voracious are the common Norway rats, that often and often, when one of these gentry is caught in a trap, the others attack and eat him up; and frequently the keepers find from ten to twenty rats caught in the rabbit-traps during the night, though set far away from ricks or buildings of any kind; and perhaps two-thirds of them before morning would be eaten by these cannibals of the worst kind; for,” he says, “they do not wait even to kill their brother rats in trouble before they feast upon them.”

One evening I called upon an acquaintance of mine to obtain some particular information, and found him just going to decide a wager respecting a large male ferret of the polecat breed, which was to destroy fifty rats within the hour. It must be borne in mind that this ferret was trained for the purpose. The rats were placed in a large square space measuring eight or ten feet from corner to corner. The ferret was put in, and it was astonishing to see the systematic way in which he set about his work. Some of the larger rats were very great cowards, and surrendered with scarcely a struggle; while some of the smaller, or three-parts-grown ones, fought most desperately. One of these drew my particular attention. The ferret, in making his attacks, was beaten off several times, to his great discomfiture; for the rat bit him most severely. At last the ferret bustled the fight and succeeded in getting the rat upon its back, with one of his feet upon the lower part of its belly. In this position they remained for some minutes, with their heads close to each other, and their mouths wide open. The ferret was rather exhausted with his former conflicts, and every move he made the rat bit him. At last he lost his temper, and making one desperate effort, he succeeded in getting the rat within his deadly grasp. He threw himself upon his side, and, cuddling the rat close to him, he fixed his teeth in its neck. While thus engaged, a rat was running carelessly about; all at once, when near the ferret, it threw up its head, as if a new idea had struck it; it retreated till it met with another, and it was astonishing to see the instantaneous effect produced in the second. Off they ran together to the corner where the ferret lay. The fact was, they scented the blood of either the rat or ferret, which in both was running in profusion. Without any further ceremony they seized the ferret fast by the crown of the head, and drew themselves up for a comfortable suck of warm blood. The ferret, feeling the smart, thought it was his old opponent that was struggling in his grasp, and bit his lifeless victim most furiously. Presently he let go the dead rat, and seemed astounded at the audacity of the others. He began to struggle, and they seemed quite offended at being disturbed at their repast. He very soon, however, succeeded in catching hold of one of them, and the other ran away, but only for a few seconds. The ferret demolished the whole fifty considerably under the hour. Nevertheless, two facts were established beyond a doubt—first, that rats are perfectly carnivorous; and, secondly, that they delight in sucking hot blood.

Having thus given some accounts of the worst propensities of rats, it is but fair to present some authenticated facts, as well as my own personal observation, in confirmation of their better qualities.

Mr. Bell quotes a case of fraternal affection among rats from Mr. Jesse. A gentleman was walking out in the meadows one evening, and observed a number of rats in the act of migrating from one place to another, which it is well known they are in the habit of doing occasionally. He stood perfectly still while the whole assembly passed close to him. His astonishment, however, was great when he saw an old blind rat, which held a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while another rat had hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted its blind companion. He also says that it is very evident, from several instances, that the rat is not insensible to kindness, and that it may be powerfully attached to those who feed and caress it.

The Rev. W. Cotton gives an instance of fidelity among rats:—“On a bright moonlight evening, we discovered two rats on the plank coming into the ship. The foremost was leading the other by a straw—one end of which each held in its mouth. We managed to capture them both, and found, to our surprise, that the one led by the other was stone blind. His faithful friend was trying to get him on board, where he would have comfortable quarters during a three years’ cruise.”

The maternal affection of rats for their young is not, perhaps, to be surpassed by any other animal; and so far from their being the low, degraded, dirty, ignoble creatures that many imagine them to be, they are, on the contrary, perfectly aristocratic in their habits and notions. Sir W. Jardine says: “The rat is a very cleanly animal; for even when its residence is in a ditch, or sewer, in the midst of all sorts of filth, it almost invariably preserves itself from pollution; and in parts remote from towns its fur is often possessed of considerable beauty. Although, on account of the injury it inflicts upon us, and the abhorrence with which in childhood we are taught to regard it, few persons will be apt to discover much beauty in a rat; nevertheless, any one who has taken notice of rats, can bear testimony to the fact, that in all their leisure time they are constantly sitting on end cleaning their fur, and seem perfectly restless and unhappy till their jackets are dry and clean, and arranged in proper order.”

In the spring the rats leave their winter establishments, and mostly repair to some watering-place to spend the summer months. Here the mother teaches her young the recreations of swimming, fishing, and hunting.

But in their more infantine days she is one of the kindest of nurses, eternally washing their little faces, backs, bellies, legs, and feet, by rolling them from side to side, and licking them over with all the tenderness and solicitude of any other mother. But if an enemy intrudes, she will protect them with all the vicious determination of a tigress, and if she does not succeed in beating him off, she will relinquish the contest only with her life. So, if the old rat should call, who in some cases is a barbarous old brute, she will show him her teeth, and squinny at him till he decamps; but, should she be from home, the infanticidal old cannibal will sometimes eat up her children, and then walk doggedly to his retreat, and lay himself down most tranquilly to digest them.

Two men in a boat were gathering rushes on the borders of the Avon, when a water-rat entered the boat, arranged some of the rushes, and gave birth to seven young ones, which the men at once destroyed. The rat immediately set up such piteous cries, that they endeavoured to drive her from the boat, but she would not go; so they killed her also.

Doubtless she sought this asylum to save her young from the jaws of the old tyrant, and so lost her own life, which says but little for her destroyers, where, from first to last, such a confiding appeal was made to their humanity. But let it be borne in mind that the male rat is not the only animal that will devour the young of its own species. Pigs, both male and female, will sometimes do it; as also tomcats and rabbits. But, in a wild state, the doe rabbit always goes a considerable distance from the main burrows, where the buck is not likely to travel. Here she makes a hole some two feet long, and deposits her young, which, when she leaves to go abroad for food, she always covers the entrance close up with earth, so that the buck is not likely to find them in her absence. As to boar-pigs, it is well known that if they come across a litter of young pigs, and the opportunity offers, they will chump them up like sweetmeats. Consequently the male rat, however disgusting, must not be individually condemned for murder and cannibalism.

A writer in the “Zoologist” says that he was once an eyewitness to an act of affection on the part of a female rat; which he thought worth recording, more especially as the rat is considered to have little in its character to recommend it. Some persons, who were cutting a field of barley, mowed over a rat’s nest full of young ones, when the mother, who was suckling them, instead of running away, remained in the nest, and, in her anxiety for their preservation, actually laid so fast hold of the scythe that she was obliged to be shaken off. This nest was made in a slight depression of the ground, and not under the ground, as usually is the case.

The same gentleman gives another instance of considerable cunning and courage evinced by a water-rat. He was walking by a brook one day, and saw a water-rat run past on the opposite bank in great haste. Almost immediately afterwards came a very fine stoat, hot in pursuit, but evidently running by scent. Backwards and forwards ran both animals within a certain space for upwards of ten minutes, when both made a dead pause within a yard of each other, and he expected to see the rat fall a prey every moment. But such was not the case; for, in an instant, she rushed forward upon the stoat with such open-mouthed fury, that he ran away, and she in turn became the pursuer; nor was she content until she had driven her voracious enemy fairly out of the neighbourhood. There is no doubt that the rat was a female which had young, and was prompted by maternal affection to display the courage she did. But what surprised him was, that she never retreated to a hole, or dived under water, which would have been an almost certain mode of escaping danger; but that would not have prevented her wily enemy from scenting out her young.

The same writer gives another instance of intense affection in the rat. Some gintraps were set for the purpose of taking vermin. On the following morning a large female rat was discovered in one of them, caught by one of her fore legs, but squatting over a nest containing six young ones. The poor animal, regardless of all pain, during the previous night had actually, with the fore paw which was at liberty, and probably with the assistance of the hind feet, contrived to scrape together a quantity of the neighbouring grass, and formed the nest,—thus providing for the warmth and comfort of her young, although she was tortured with iron teeth, and almost disabled by her position in the trap.

Of the unqualified affection of a rat for her young, I was witness to a most interesting and curious instance. I had a sort of compound collection, half aviary and half menagerie. My stock was composed of rabbits, pigeons, ferrets, fowls, cats, dogs, white mice, hedgehogs, guinea-pigs, and canaries. Besides these there was a host of native song-birds and a cock pheasant. I did not keep them like the happy family, all together, but in separate departments. Among these I had an enormous polecat ferret, blind in one eye. He was perhaps the largest ferret I ever saw, and was so tame and attached, that he would follow me in the streets, or anywhere else, like a little dog. In the fields I often used to amuse myself by running away, and giving him the trouble to find me out; still I never was afraid of losing him, because he always wore a small collar round his neck, with a little bell attached to it. However, we were out together one summer’s evening, in a meadow, which on one end and side is skirted by a river, and on the other by thick hedges. I was lounging carelessly on, when I heard the ferret make an extraordinary loud chattering noise, something between a cackle and a bark, or rather just such a noise as a monkey will make, when some mischievous boys have his tail through the cage, and are tying it tight in a knot—I instantly ran back, and found him in the ditch, in a state of perfect confusion, and bleeding terribly from the nose. I fancied I saw something disappear, but what I could not tell; yet seeing him bleed so profusely, I imagined he must have run a spike into his nose, having recently seen some set in a game-preserve for the purpose of killing dogs as they jumped through the gaps in the hedges. I paused for a moment, and soon found by his action that there was some game at hand. Presently he sniffed about, and made his way carefully to a bundle of dried grass, leaves, &c., in the hedge-bottom at the root of a bush. When, quick as lightning, out dashed a rat at him, and as quickly disappeared. But what with the smart of the bite, and the force she came with, it threw him fairly on his back. Oh, thought I, here’s some sport! He soon recovered himself, though bleeding from a second wound. He made another attempt with the same result, and another bleeding wound. Thus he approached six or seven times with the same consequences. Whether or not she got on the blind side of him I cannot say; but with the stick I had in my hand I determined on dislodging her ladyship; so with the hookey end I forthwith turned over the bundle of dried grass, &c., which parted in the middle, and lifted up like the lid of a box; when lo, and behold! there she sat fondling over a host of naked, blind young ones, about three or four days old. The sudden appearance of daylight seemed at first to bewilder the poor creature; but she soon recovered, and began licking her offspring, yet looked unconscious of what she was doing, for her eyes were fixed most piercingly on the ferret. He was sniffing about, yet creeping stealthily nearer and nearer; but when he came within a certain distance, out she dashed at him, and knocked him over again; this she repeated three or four times, each time inflicting a fresh wound, until the ferret was bleeding from all points, which made him extremely cautious; and it was some time before he would venture again within certain limits. In the mean time the poor rat was licking and fondling over her young, as if to persuade them that they were all safe, and that there was no danger at hand. By this time, the ferret, gathering himself up for mischief, pressed boldly forward—when out she dashed at him; but two of her young ones were hanging to her teats, which I suppose broke her spring; they fell off, helplessly sprawling on their backs, and she got into the ferret’s clutches. He had seized her by the skin of the back, and was cuddling her up in his deadly grasp, which was too much for me. The idea of so spirited a creature, which had beat off a much larger and deadly enemy so many times, becoming a prey to his fangs, and leaving twelve poor little blind sucklings without a mother, needed no further argument; so into the ditch I jumped, and taking the ferret by the tail, laid them on the bank, and thrust the small end of my stick into his mouth, and, by giving it a slight wrench, allowed the rat to get loose; but, instead of running off directly to her young as I expected, she turned upon the ferret again and again, a perfect little vixen, and bit him most severely before I could get out of the ditch: it was very evident that she had made up her mind to a life-and-death battle. I kept hold of the ferret’s tail, which very much impeded his action; but no sooner was I fairly landed than I suspended him in the air at arm’s length. The rat sprang up five or six times, but could not reach him; when, all in an instant, like a squirrel, she ran up my leg and body, then along my arm, and dropping on him, gave him another bite and fell. This I thought anything but fair play; so when she attempted it a second time I brushed her off, and there she stood, with her head and mane up, which looked like a black line down her back; and her pretty black eyes flashed defiance at the pair of us. Indeed I apprehended she would lay hold of me; so, to divert her attention, I touched her with the stick, which she furiously bit through, and then ran off to her young. With this I left her mistress of the field, and felt perfectly delighted at the courage she had displayed in defence of her young.

I made it a daily practice, for about a month, to supply this little heroine with food; at the expiration of which time, as I passed down the hedge-side, there I saw the twelve young ones, and fine fat fellows they were; but no sooner did they espy me than up the bank they ran, showing their little white tails and feet. Through the hedge they rustled into the cornfields, and I never afterwards saw anything more of them.