GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RATS. 
29 
with the smart of the bite, and the force she came with, it 
threw him fairly on his back. Oh, thought I, here's some 
sport ! lie soon recovered himself, though bleeding from a 
second wound. He made another attempt with the same 
result, and another bleeding wound. Thus he approached 
six or seven times with the same consequences. Whether 
or not she got on the blind side of him I cannot say ; but 
with the stick I had in my hand I determined on dislodging 
her ladyship ; so with the hookey end I forthwith turned 
over the bundle of dried grass, &c., which parted in the 
middle, and lifted up like the lid of a box ; when lo, and 
behold ! there she sat fondling over a host of naked, blind 
young ones, about three or four days old. The sudden 
appearance of daylight seemed at first to bewilder the poor 
creature ; but she soon recovered, and began licking her 
offspring, yet looked unconscious of what she was doing, for 
her eyes were fixed most piercingly on the ferret. He was 
sniffing about, yet creeping stealthily nearer and nearer ; 
but when he came within a certain distance, out she dashed 
at him, and knocked him over again ; this she repeated 
three or four times, each time inflicting a fi'esh wound, 
until the ferret was bleeding from all points, which made 
him extremely cautious ; and it was some time before he 
would venture again within certain limits. In the mean time 
the poor rat was licking and fondling over her young, as if 
to persuade them that they were all safe, and that there was 
no danger at hand. By this time, the ferret, gathering him- 
self up for mischief, pressed boldly forward — when out she 
dashed at him ; but two of her young ones were hanging to 
her teats, which I suppose broke her spring ; they fell off, 
helplessly sprawling on their backs, and she got into the fer- 
ret's clutches. He had seized her by the skin of the back, 
and was cuddling her up in his deadly grasp, which was too 
much for me. The idea of so spirited a creature, which had 
beat off a much larger and deadly enemy so many times, 
becoming a prey to his fangs, and leaving twelve poor little 
blind sucklings without a mother, needed no further argu- 
ment ; so into the ditch I jumped, and taking the ferret by 
the tail, laid them on the bank, and thrust the small end of 
my stick into his mouth, and, by giving it a slight wrench, 
allowed the rat to get loose ; but, instead of running off 
