people; if they chance to see two or
three Rats at once, they will say there are "scores" of them. You would
also be surprised to see the awful dread that tenants have of the Rat-
catcher in private houses. When ferreting these places they think that
if a Rat-catcher has once put his ferrets under the floor they will never
see another Rat in the place; but depend upon it they are very bad to
catch in these places.

I have often had much trouble respecting houses, warehouses, etc., to
know whose duty it would be to pay the Rat-catcher for his work, the
landlord's or the tenant's, but I think that the landlord should pay. I
have had many engagements to catch Rats in newly-built houses before they
were tenanted. The time the Rats get into these places is whilst the
workmen are putting the drains in the back yards, leaving the drains open
at nights. Thence the Rats come out and get under the floors, sometimes
having to stop there, too, simply because the next day the joiners board
up the floors and thus block the Rats in underneath, and then the Rats
can always get into the kitchens up the back of the fireplace. Most
property owners would do well to take note of this fact.

I must tell my readers, especially those having large shops, etc., that
it is a good plan, if possible, to turn off the gas and water every night
and week-end, for I have seen a good many cases where the Rats in the
night-time have eaten through a water-pipe, and the place has been
flooded by morning. It is just the same with a gas-pipe, and my opinion
is that it is quite possible for fires to be caused by Rats in the night-
time. Rats are very fond of nibbling and scratching at soft wood, and it
would be an easy matter at a grocer's shop for a Rat to bite or scratch
through the package of a gross of matches and ignite them, and the same
cause may prove disastrous with any other inflammable goods.

Respecting the conveyance of live Rats, the Rat-catcher should always be
particular to have good strong cages and bags, because if he had a number
of Rats in an unserviceable bag which happened to break open at a railway
station or in the street, I think he could be summoned for the damage the
escaped Rats might do. Still, I have not in my time had or heard of a
case of this sort.

Speaking of bags, a good many people seem to think that if a man puts his
hand into a bagful of Rats they will bite him, but I can assure you that
a child could do the s