A BIT OF RATTING.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14969, 16 May 1914, Page 12

A BIT OF RATTIN G.

(Bt Cantsriujbv.) (speciali.t written" for pmss.'') To set down ratting as a sport equal <o deer-stalking, or perhaps elephanthunting at its very best, might bo going a little too far; but there aro many people who may agree with mo in saying it is quite good fun, and few who possibly can grieve at an unduo destruction of tho quarry. According to the Dnko of Beaufort, fox-hunting and ratting were thn two best sports in the world, and ratting was a very good second; so tho thing may bo classed in any way, to suit our mood of the moment. I speak with diffidence, as before, but if 1 am correct, no limit yet has Leon placed upon the number of rats which wo may slay in a single morning; even wo may shoot them from cylinders, when thus inclined; and hero at least for tU« present, I find the refreshing subject, of a free and unregulated spon, or fun. Forbyc, it has tho support of "all »iie best people." Recent experiences recall an earlier lacmory—two of the Lowther clan wandering with disconsolate faces down Lambton quay. They had on August week to spend in Wellington, and, strange to say. were sorely distressed for any sort of amusement. "Wo have tried all tho morniu , to arrange a. bit of rattin', and had no hick at all." Though at tho time I, too, felt almost wasted in New Zealand, I pitied those two poor lonely men. They said that the only really sportin , spot in the whole island and its vicinity was be-, tween the blankets of their coasting ; steamer, and they were going back there to make some kind of a catch. • A great I life is the sportin , life. However, we are so far fortunate in South Canterbury that wo can got a bit of rattin , without much trouble; and one way is to attend with a couple or so of more or less alleged terriers, at the threshing of some stacks which have stood long_ enough to beeomo tenantea by a grSn-devouring swarm. Then, as the last rows of sheaves are tossed up into "tho mill." there is an animated scene: rats bolting in every direction, bystanders pursuing them hero or there with sticks, and the terriers dodging in and out anions; their slower human allies. Be it said, the terriers maKo by far tho quicker and cleaner job of it—a sudden dart, a grab, a swift shake, perhaps followed by the toss of a.limp brown body into the air, and in an instant theco is another lifeless rat ready for addition to the little heap of slain. This is the ordinary course of events when ratting with terriers whilo a stack is being threshed, but anon there is an unusual incident. The mill-hands on the stack reported a big stoat, which somehow managed to escape them, and when tho final sheaves were lifted, we searched unavailingly in the rubbish at the bottom of the stack. Said one of tho mill-men, "just wait until I fetch my dog," and presently hfi returned with an animal which, from its appearance, might havo been anything. Certainly it was not the retriever we had expected, and perhaps it resembled most the first or second cousin of a lion; but we took the mill-man's f word that it was dog, and soon it proved itself to hunt, in spite of ..circumstances. We stood quietly while his master cast him round, and in a moment the queer beast began to puzzle out a lino, by the galley to a gorse hedge not far away. Then down the hedge, and across a ploughed field, to a little gorsy hollow, • whore the stoat rushed forth from under a straggling bush, to be pounced upon by his persistent foe. 2vot the least strange part of this performance was the fact that the dog insisted on carrying his victim asbonit in triumph, during the next quarter of an hour or so, while not any .of the rest could pick up the highly smellful body when he tired' of bis occupation. • ■ • . • The reference to shooting rats from a cylinder was not altogether vain as it may have seemed. Imagine a , summer evening that swiftly is drawing to a. close, whilo from his hiding place behind the wall of an outbuilding, a boy armed with a little .410 collector's gun, watches anxiously over the wide farm-yard; the point of his keenest attention a well-defined rat run leading under tho granary door; Ac length when tho boy almost has ceased hoping, a shadow just one shade thicker than the dusk, appears moving cautiously along the run. This is tho boy's chance.' Slowly and carefully the gun goes up to his shoulder, a breath- i less aim, then "bang," a yell, a rush; i and Tegardless of trivial details likep6ssiblo infection from plague germs or what not. the boy is across the yard and handling his quarry. _ Now let- us- call in tho aid of some, ferrets to assist the gun in. a daylight hunt through the same farm, builds iugs, and we have, another and better way. This is how we killed "the biggest rat wotever was seen." We had enjoyed capital sport, and as a iinish we put a couple of the ferrets in under the iron top of a double-roofed room where a farm hand slept. Generally this was a sure find for a rat, but shortly afterwards the ferrets came out badly bitteh,- neither by any means could we induce them to return. It was not satisfactory to be stopped like that, so, in the absence of restraint, wo began taking off the sheets of iron roofing in a great hurry, and had gone half through the business when flown jumped a huge rat, grey as a badger, which was knocked over instantly by a lucky shot. He weighed nearly two pounds and measured nineteen inches from tip v to tip. Almost we were inclined to write off to record him in the papers, not forgetting to end up nicely with the good old question: "Dear Mr Editor, is not this unusual?"