The Maternal Affection of Rats

" The maternal affection of rats for their young is not, perhaps, to be surpassed by any other animal; and so far from their being the low, degraded, dirty, ignoble creatures that many imagine them to be, they are, on the contrary, perfectly aristocratic in their habits and notions. Sir W. -Jardine says : " The rat is a very cleanly animal; for even when its residence is in a ditch, or sewer, in the midst of all sorts of filth, it almost invariably preserves itself from pollution ; and in parts remote from towns its fur is often possessed of considerable beauty. Although, on account of the injury it inflicts upon us, and the abhorrence with which in childhood we are taught to regard it, few persons will be apt to discover much beauty in a rat; nevertheless, any one who has taken notice of rats, can bear testimony to the fact, that tn all their leisure time they are constantly sitting on end cleaning their fur, and seem perfectly restless and unhappy till their jackets are dry and clean, and arranged in proper order."

But in their more infantine days she is one of the kindest of nurses, eternally washing their little faces, backs, bellies, legs, and feet, by rolling them from side to side, and licking them over with all the tenderness and solicitude of any other mother. But if an enemy intrudes, she will protect them with all the vicious determination of a tigress, and if she does not succeed in beating him off, she will relinquish the contest only with her life. So, if the old rat should call, who in some cases is a barbarous old brute, she will show him her teeth, and squinny at him till he decamps ; but, should she be from home, the infanticidal old cannibal -will sometimes eat up her children, and then walk doggedly to his retreat, and lay himself down most tranquilly to digest them.

.... Some gintraps were set for the purpose of taking vermin. On the following morning a large female rat was discovered in one of them, caught by one of her fore legs, but squatting over a nest containing six young The poor animal, regardless of all pain, during the previous night had actually, with the fore paw which was at liberty, and probably with the assistance of the hind feet, contrived to scrape together a quantity of the neighbouring grass, and formed the nest,thus providing for the warmth and comfort of her young, although she was tortured with iron teeth, and almost disabled by her position in the trap. "

extract from "The Rat" by By James Rodwell, 1858