A Tall Tale The following story comes straight from an
agricultural labourer w vouched for its truth ; but I must confess to some incredulity. On floor of a rough barn where the farmyard hens frequently laid their eg he watched a rat take up an egg in the fore-paws and then turn o on its back still clutching the inviolable egg. Thereupon another rat up and pulled the other along like a sledge. Close to the place where two had disappeared were found twenty-five hens' eggs, all unbroke I have heard similar accounts before of this method of transport, but do not remember on what authority. In one minor detail I can gi some corroborative detail to this "otherwise unconvincing narrative." rat burrowed under a chestnut paling and came out at the side of partridge's nest in the rough grass of the paddock ; and carried seve of the eggs into the tunnel. All these pilfered eggs were unbroken. would have expected a thieving rat to be greedy. The biggest store ever found was a peck or so of acorns, all unnibbled.
Previous page
