But the corpse will in a short time open its eyes, shake itself, wag its tail, and then trot around with the others. When a ferret sleeps he will let his companions tramp all over his head and body without allowing himself to be disturbed in the least. When they have been fed too well they will sleep and be of no further use. If these over-fed ferrets are in a pen and you put rats in for them to kill, they will not wake up even if the rats crawl all over them, although the rodents are scared into fits and are trying to get away with all their might and main. A hungry ferret around a house will go scenting around as hunting dogs do, to discover any trace or hiding-place of his natural prey. This in itself is enough to drive all the rats to Jericho and make them stay there as long as the ferrets are kept around, for the rodents have an acute bodily fear of these prowling detectives. A ferret's being bitten by a rat happens only in extreme cases, but sometimes in cellars and other places that are swarming with rats, ferrets that have first been put in have to contend with great odds, and come out with some bruises. _Therefore if even a good, old hunting ferret should be bitten by a rat, he should not be used until the wound is perfectly healed again, even if it should take two or three weeks._ The ferret is very peculiar in this respect, and if this rule is not observed he may be spoiled as a hunter forever afterwards. The ferrets hunt downward, and if put on the upper or top floors in the evening they will turn up in the morning down in the cellar driving the rats before them. They should be kept in a dry place, and they rapidly get to know their pens, returning to them and waiting to be put in when through hunting. With a moderate amount of attention they will thrive and prosper in their work of extermination. IV.--FOOD.