A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



the rat. The latter stood on his hind feet 

 and squealed a warning. 



A lady visitor urged me to drive the rat 

 away. " Rats are great fighters," said she. 

 " The poor little squirrel will be killed." I 

 offered to bet on the squirrel, but before she 

 could answer, the fight was on. Tiny caught 

 the rat by the neck. For a few seconds all 

 that could be seen was something brown 

 whirling in a cloud of pine-needles. The rat 

 soon found that his little foe was a cyclonic 

 fighter, and he made desperate efforts to es- 

 cape. He dragged Tiny to a stone wall, 

 leaving a trail of blood behind. When he 

 entered the wall, Tiny let go and returned 

 to the bread and coolly proceeded to eat his 

 dinner, none the worse for his fierce battle. 



The rat did not return. He either died 

 from the effects of Tiny's savage bites, or, 

 if he survived, left in disgust. 



Tiny was not always full of fight. He 



formed a friendship for a young towhee- 



bunting after a singular encounter. The 



bunting was eating from a loaf of bread, 



240 



