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Dunstan Times, Issue 1278, 27 August 1886, Page 3

A correspondent wrote to London ‘Nature’ : I havo found by practical experience that the ferocity and voracity of rata are very great. They devour one another at all times and in all circumstances, whether living in a wild state or under the influence of domestication. I kepc sis rats at one time in confinement, and although they were well fed, the largest specimen consumed all the rest. Again, shortly after the Inventions Exhibition closed last year, the following incident came under my notice, which fully confirms mo in the bedief which I havo expressed. As I was passing through the building I heard wild and piteous cries issuing from a snot cloro to where 1 stood. I immediately proceeded thither, and behold six largo rats fcasriug upon three of their congeners not much smaller than themselves, who were endeavouring to f- co themselves ftom the sharp teeth of their assa lauts. All of those rodents appeared thin and wild, and were no doubt rendered bold and desperate by privation ; for my presence had no effect on their carnivorous attacks, f frequently hear rats scampering beneath thn floor of my office, and the noise is accompanied by loud and protracted squeals ; and. after what 1 saw, 1 am induced to b-eli’ve that a deadly raid is on such occasions being mane upon one or more of them. When Brown opened the front door one morning and found a strange baby in a basket on the front steps, ho picked up the bundle, and, as he carried it to his wife, he was heard to remark ; “ Some men arc- born babies, some achieve babies, and some have babies thrust upon them.”