REASONING POWERS OF RATS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 491, 14 August 1912, Page 7

REASONING POWERS OF RATS.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO TRAP THEM. That rats are quite as intelligent as many persons who try to catch them is very often shown by failures to trap the vermin. There are many instances on record of the ingenuity of rats, of which, the following interesting incidents, just recorded by Mr. John Timmonsi, may serve as specimens :

A farmer's wife noticed that ills cream on the surface of the milk in her dairy was often interfered with. At first'she suspected her children cf dipping pieces of bread into it, but she could find nothing to confirm this suspicionand by and by she noticed strange little streams of cream on the edges. of the miLt basins, as if a string had been dipped in and drawn out, leaving a mark.

..At last she discovered the scpret. The cream was stolen by rats, whirh got upon the edges' of the earthenware basins containing the mil'.:, and not being able to reach down to it, a depth of several inches, nor daring to attempt to go down, as they never could have .climbed up tfce smooth surface again, dipped in the tips of their long tails, drew tlism up. loaded with the rich cream, 7 and licked them. An arrangement of the basins, so that the rats could not get upon the edges of them, put an end to all further depredations of this kind.

A family had a fancy for rearing diicks, but could hot well do so on account of. rats, which systematically got hold of and carried away the jroung ducklings, even from close to their mother. With a view to circumbent the rats, the duck and her young were housed for the night under a coop that had no opening for the furtive intruders.

The rats were not to be so easily cheated of their pray. On discovcrr g that -the mother duck and h r „r

jaily were closely shielded from intrusion, they deviled a pretty plan of engineering, which was eminently successful. In the course of a single night they excavated a 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 guardianship of the mother. Two rats belonging to the same colony performed a feat quite as ingenious. A trap which was baited for their capture was habitually plundered without securing a single rat. -They had evidently invented some plan for safely stealing the bait, but what the plan was could only be learned by closely watching the trap.' - The trap was of the kind which is sometimes emplpyed for catching mice. It was a box with a sliding door, which was sustained by mechanism connected with the bait. Or the. bait being nibbled, the door des-cends-and makes the mouse a prisoner. The two rats saw through thf device, and resorted to the following .very simple but effectual method tc take away the bait, a piece of toasted cheese, and yet escape imprisonment.

One of them placed!'- itself under the door, so that it might fall or its. back While the bther crept in and successfully carried off the morsel of cheese. The first rat then diftw itself from the door and joined 'ts friend.