Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-16
Ingenuity of Rats.

A FARMERS wife in the west of Scot
land remarked that the cream on the
surface Of the milk in her dairy
was often interfered with At first
she suspected that some Of her
children had taken the unwarrant-
able liberty of dipping pieces Of bread in
it; but she could find nothing to confirm
this suspicion; and by and by she noticed
strange little streaks Of cream on the
edge of the milk basin, as if a string had
been dipped in and drawn out so as to
leave a mark. At last she discovered the
secret The cream was stolen by rats,
which got upon the edge Of the earthen-
ware basins containing the milk, and not
being able to reach down to it, a depth Of
several inches, and not daring to attempt
to go down, as they could never have
climbed up the smooth surface again,
dipped in the tips of their long tails'
drew them up loaded with the rich
cream, and licked them. An arrange
ment of the basins, such that the rats
could not get upon the edges Of them,
put an end to all further depredations of
this kind. There was surely something
more than instinct in this case in the pro
cedure Of the rats.
We have something still to tell regard
ing the ingenuity Of rats. A family in a
country house in Hertfordshirc had a
fancy for rearing ducks, but could not
well do so on account Of rats, which svs-
tematiCally got hold of and carried away
the young ducklings, even from close to
their mother. With view to cIrcum-
vent the rats the maternal duck and her
young were housed for the night under a
coop which admitted Of no opening for
he f1ptIvp IntT1IffprC Tho rot &c
easily to be cheated of their prev. On
discovering that the mother duck and
her family were shrOuded from intrusion
they devised pretty plan Of engineer
ing which was eminently successful. In
the course Of a single night they exca-
waited tunnel, going below the outer
edge of the coop to its interior, and thus
very neatly, without producing any
alarm, stole every duckling from under
the guardiance Of the mother.
Two rats belonging to the same colony
performed feat quite as ingenious. A
trap which was baited for their capture
was habitually plundered without secur-
ing a single rat. They had evidently in
vented some plan for safely stealing away
the bait, and what the plan was could
only be learned BY setting watch on
the trap. We shall explain how the theft
was effected. The trap was Of the kind
which IS sometimes employed for catch
ing mice. 1t was box with a sliding
door which was sustained by mechanism
with it: the bait being nibbled
at, the door descends and makes the
mouse a prisoner. The rats saw through
the device, and resorted to the following
very simple but efectual method OF
taking away the bait, which was piece
of toasted cheese, and yet escape impris-
onment: One of them placed itself under
the door. so that it might fall on its back,
while the other crept in and successfully
carried off the mOrsel of cheese. The
first rat then drew itself from under the
door and Joined its companion. This
Of rat intelligence, like
the preceding incident, is of recent oc-
,urrence. Chambers Journal.