THE soa. 



his bull as bravely as ever. The cheers were deafening. ' I'll 

 once more double stakes that he finishes him with no feet,' 

 roared Mr. Jackson. The wager was accepted, and, to the 

 astonishment of all present, the poor creature hobbled to the 

 bull and made good his grip, thus winning for his master little 

 short of a thousand pounds." Good old times ! 



The bull-terrier, next to the bull-dog, is more remarkable 

 than any other of the canine race for courage and unflinching 

 endurance of pain. It is this creature that is so famous for its 

 extermination of rats, and though, when full-bred, it weighs no 

 more than six or seven pounds, it has been known to destroy 

 fifty rats, each weighing nearly, or quite, a pound, in less than 

 half an hour. One of the most celebrated of this family was a 

 little creature whose weight was only five pounds and a half, 

 and who during his life was supposed to have killed at least 

 five thousand rats, the weight of which may be safely com- 

 puted at a ton and a half. He lived till a good old age, and 

 died the death of a ratter. " He happened to hear or to smeU 

 a rat which was in a cage in another room ; and, being chained 

 in an adjoining apartment and unable even to see the rat, he 

 chafed and fi-etted himself into such feverish agitation that he 

 died a short time afterwards, although allowed to kill the rat." 



The behaviour of one of these ratting dogs in the rat-pit was 

 some time ago described by a writer in " Fraser's Magazine," 

 and is so humorous, and at the same time so graphic, that I 

 will present the reader with an abridgment. 



" At last Pincher is produced and handed over to his second 

 in the pit. He is a very lean dog, vsdth a great development 

 of rib and jaw, calm and self-possessed, not in the least ner- 

 vous or excited, but treating the whole affair as a matter of 

 business. From the very arms of his ' second ' he looks down 

 on the rats with an eye professional and critical, settling in his 

 own mind what particular sewer they were bred in, making a 

 rough estimate of their average size and condition, aud com- 

 paring them, considered as a lot, with the last batch he 

 disposed of On the signal being given, Pincher is placed on 

 the floor, and immediately plunges his snout into one of the 

 rat-heaps. For a few seconds there is a steady sound of snap, 

 crunch, crannch, snap, showing that he is doing good business ; 

 after which he raises his head a moment for breath, and then, 

 thinking he has done enough for the present in that quarter, 

 transfers his attention to the next heap. By this time the rata 

 are fully alive to the fact of their position, and are runmng- 



