_Miscellaneous Anecdotes._--There was, in the year 1827, in a
farm-house in England, a remarkable instance, not only of docility, but
of usefulness, in a rat. It first devoured the mice which were caught
in traps, and was afterwards seen to catch others as they ventured from
their holes; till, at length, the whole house was cleared of these
animals. From the services it rendered, the family kindly protected the
rat, and it used to gambol about the house, and play with the children,
without the least fear. It sometimes disappeared for a week or ten days
at a time, but regularly returned to its abode.
During a dreadful storm in England, in 1829, a singular instance
occurred of sagacity in a rat. The River Tyne was much swollen by the
water, and numbers of people had assembled to gaze on the masses of hay
it swept along in its irresistible course. A swan was at last observed,
sometimes struggling for the land, at other times sailing majestically
along with the torrent. When it drew near, a black spot was seen on its
snowy plumage, and the spectators were greatly pleased to find that
this was a live rat. It is probable that it had been borne from its
domicile in some hayrick, and, observing the swan, had made for it as
an ark of safety, in the hope of prolonging its life. When the swan at
length reached the land, the rat leaped from his back, and scampered
away, amid the shouts of the spectators.
A surgeon's mate on board a ship, in 1757, relates that, while lying
one evening awake in his berth, he saw a rat come into the room, and,
after surveying the place attentively, retreat with the utmost caution
and silence. It soon returned, leading by the ear another rat, which it
left at a small distance from the hole by which they entered. A third
rat then joined them. The two then searched about, and picked up all
the small scraps of biscuit; these they carried to the second rat,
which seemed blind, and remained on the spot where they had left it,
nibbling such fare as was brought to it by its kind providers, whom the
mate supposed were its offspring.
A steward of a ship infested with rats used to play some lively airs on
a flute after he had baited his traps and placed them near the
rat-holes. The music attracted the rats, who entered the traps
unconscious of that danger which, without that allurement, they would
have instinctively avoided. In this manner the steward caught fifteen
or twenty rats in three hours.