A Bird and Rat Fight. 67 



applies n:irticu!;irly to tlic bird world, and thi.i L'xj)erience illustrates 

 its application all round. Finally, let mc impress on orchardists, 

 agriculturists, pastoralists, everybody — be careful when you wage war- 

 fare on any native bird. The balance of Nature is a very complicated 

 arrangement, and if you ilisturb it, then look out," 



C-M^> 



A Bird and Rat Fight. 



Reprinted fruin the Yorkshire I''ost, February 26th.. with our thanks 

 lo llie Fdilor. — Cutting per .Miss M. L. Harbord. — Fd. B.N. 



" Sir,- — O'l Monday last, when taking the dog for a run in the fields 

 " adjacent to my house, my daughters, Fvelyn and Phyllis, captured, near 

 " a barn, a bird which was fluttering and tumbling along the ground in 

 " a very curious manner. On arriving home they at once brought it up 

 " to my room (where I was confined with a bad cold) for my inspection. 

 " The bird was a redwing, and a moments examination showed that it 

 " was not the recent severity of weather that had incapacitated it, as I 

 " had at first suspected, but di.sablement from a recent fight with a rat ! 

 " I'or the primaries of the right wing were securely lashed to the bird's 

 ■■ right shank and foot by tough strips and shreds of a rat's tail, a section 

 " of the tail itself, about one and a half inches, hanging loose. Evidently 

 " a Homeric comb.it must have taken place, and, for the moment at ;ili 

 " events, left the bird victorious, but so completely disabled, that onh- b\ 

 " the exercise of threat care and ij.atience, and the aid of ;i pair of fine 

 " scissors, was I ;.!)le gradu.ally to remove the entanglements. The 

 " ti])s of the primaries were so tightly bound to the bird's toes, that it was 

 ■■ inijKJSsible otherwise to free them. After straightening out the feathers, 

 " ;ind \\arniins4' arid drxing the legs and toes, which were in a semi- 

 " paralysed state, the victim flew aw.ny into a holly tree, little the worse 

 " for its gruesome adventure." 



'■ To round the story off, I suppose I ought to say that the bird 



licked my hand in gratitude, or whatever eciuiv.alent from a bird's point 

 "of view it was morally capable of; but. on the contrary, it pecked 



vigorously at my finger just before I turned it loose to take up in due 

 " time, I trust, its return journey to the Northern breed-ng grounds." 



Yours, etc. — T.C.J. 



Willington, near Derby, February 2r, IQ19. 



0-^-¥0 



