Memoirs of British Quadrupeds: Illustrative Principally of Their Habits of Life, Instincts, Sagacity, and Uses to Mankind. Arranged According to the System of Linnaeus
Memoirs of British Quadrupeds: Illustrative Principally of Their Habits of Life, Instincts, Sagacity, and Uses to Mankind. Arranged According to the System of Linnaeus
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1809 Excerpt: ...How came thiy'amphibious animal to fix its winter station at such a distance from the water? Was it determined, in its choice of the place, by the accident of finding the potatoes which were planted there? Or.is it the constant practice of the Water Rat to forsake the neighbourhood of water during the colder monthsf? ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1809 Excerpt: ...How came thiy'amphibious animal to fix its winter station at such a distance from the water? Was it determined, in its choice of the place, by the accident of finding the potatoes which were planted there? Or.is it the constant practice of the Water Rat to forsake the neighbourhood of water during the colder monthsf? Two or three Water Rats that I have opened, had their stomach entirely filled with a macerated vegetable substance. f White's Works in Natural History, ii. p. 129. T those Notwithstanding the circumstance of its toes being unconnected by webs, and thus differing from those of most other animals which seek their food in the water, this Rat not only swims on the surface, but under it, with singular facility. It is also able to continue, for a great length of time, submersed, without coming to the surface to breathe. Its general enemies seem to be the larger and more voracious species of fish, and particularly the pike, in the stomach of which it has often been found. Dogs also pursue it with great eagerness. It is a savage animal; and, when laid hold of, will bite with great keenness and ferocity. The females usually litter in the month of April, producing six or eight young ones at a birth. It is probable that they may procreate more than once in the year; but this has not yet been ascertained. At some particular seasons they have a strong musky odour. The flesh of the Water Rats is held.in. high esteem by the inhabitants of several parts of the Russian empire, as an article of food; and in all Roman Catholic countries it is allowed to be eaten during lent. This animal, in Wales, is called llygodeny dwft: in France, rat d'eau: in Italy, sorgo morgange: in Spain, raton de agua: in Portugal, ratodeagoa: in Germany, wnff'er musz: in Holland, water ...
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