What animal is ratty in wind and the willows?

Ratty is the colloquial nickname for the (obviously water-going) Rat in the story who is described as liking to mess about in boats, but is not a professional seaman. It is interesting to note none of the (gang or club) characters in The Wind and the Willows have regular jobs, all seems to be something of gentlemen of leisure in a sort of Holiday ( more in the British sense of vacation) Club atmosphere.The club or clique is all male. There are no important female characters, which has led to the assumption( also applied to Batman comics) that there are strongly implied homosexual motives. This is also true of Winnie-The-Pooh which used spelling errors as the dominant comedy device.