ZOOLOGY. 



EAT AND MOUSE. 



On passing an old ruin one day and hearing a rather loud squeaking, which I 

 suspected to proceed from rats fighting, as I knew they were plentiful there, I 

 stood in the hope that they might come out. In this I was not disappointed. 

 In a short time one appeared at a hole, but with his tail first. Here he came 

 to a dead halt, and could get no farther. He seemed from his writhings to be 

 dragging something that he could not. very well manage. This continued for 

 a time. At last, however, and with what looked like an extra effort, he 

 cleared the opening, and brought another rat with him. The two now fixed on 

 each other in a fresh, and as it seemed, a deadly combat. The screaming was 

 fearful. They rolled and tumbled about for a long time, but at length one got 

 clear and bolted. Both were bleeding. The other now turned and looked, 

 as I thought, rather anxiously all round. He then sped to the hole, but 

 stopping short at its mouth looked at me, came and ran over and over and 

 smelled my shoes, then actually had the audacity to stand up against the wall 

 on which I was leaning, and stared me in the face, his large black eyes glisten- 

 ing the while. Satisfied that I was either a friend or a statue, he left me and ran 

 to his abode. Soon after he entered, the squeaking recommenced, but now on 

 a much lower key. This ceased, then out came the ratten, carrying in his mouth 

 what I took for a young one. Having gone to a distance the burden was 

 dropped, and I could now see that it was a mouse, so big with yoUng that it 

 could scarcely walk. The rat having disposed of his burden, returned to his 

 domicile. The mouse, after wandering amongst a lot of loose stones and rubbish, 

 came back and entered the hole too. A little more squeaking followed, and 

 then out came the rat as before ; and having carried the intruder fully farther 

 than he did last time, he dropped it again, and then ran back to his retreat. 

 The mouse this time came direct back, and entered again also. A few minutes 

 now elapsed, when a slight noise indicated that the affair, finished, as I was 

 beginning to think, was not yet all over; and shortly after the mouse was 

 thrust out of the hole, but not carried this time. The rat then came out, took 

 the mouse by the back of the neck, and having dragged it several yards, lie 

 then tossed it farther with his nose. This done, he once more returned to his 

 house ; but instead of disappearing, he now seated himself at the entrance, 

 from which he looked at the mouse and at me alternately. Poor mousie seemed 

 now very much exhausted ; in fact, it was hardly able to move. On recovering 

 itself a little, however, it began even again to crawl towards the rat. Seeing 

 this, as it came near, the rat rushed at it and threw it back with some force, if 

 not violence. This stunned the little creature, so that it lay quite motionless. 

 Thinking that it was now time to put an end to the matter, I picked the mouse 

 up, more dead than alive, rolled it into my handkerchief, put it into my pocket,. 



