226 TOADS 



moments when the rabbit exhibits remarkable courage, 

 especially in defence of its young. One of its chief 

 enemies is a fellow-rodent, the grey rat, which devours 

 little rabbits in the nest during the absence of the 

 mother-doe. But let the assassin beware of being caught 

 in the act, for a full-grown rabbit is more than a match 

 for a rat. I once saw a large rat as hotly pursued by 

 a wild rabbit (presumably a doe) as ever hare was by 

 greyhound. The rat was squealing with terror; the 

 rabbit caught him within three yards of my feet, 

 planted her sharp incisors in his back, and shook him 

 like a terrier. Finally, the rat escaped, badly mauled, 

 and limped away to the shelter of a rhododendron hard 

 by, while the rabbit hopped away home to give the 

 youngsters their supper. 



LIV 



A correspondent in the Midlands wrote to me lately 

 (1907) inquiring whether it was a usual thing 

 to find hibernating toads with their mouths 

 hermetically sealed. Three, said he, had been dug 

 up in his garden lately in that condition, their lips 

 being so firmly closed that nothing less effective than 

 an oyster knife would prevail to open them. Not 

 having observed this phenomenon myself, I forwarded 

 the letter to our highest authority on reptilian and 

 batrachian life. He replied that he was perfectly 

 familiar not with the phenomenon, indeed, but with 

 letters and statements from persons claiming to have 

 observed it. The mistake, he explains, arises from a 



