106 
THE RAT. 
missed his aim, when the cock seized him by the nape of 
the neck, and spurred him five or six times before he broke 
loose. The cock, now being winded, began to work round 
for breath ; while, on the other hand, it was quite clear he 
had blinded the rat ; for he reared on his hind-legs, with 
his paws up and his mouth wide open ; and, after standing 
in this position for a second or two, he rushed furiously 
forward while the cock was behind him. These rushes he 
repeated three or four times, each of which the cock as 
dexterously avoided. At last the cock again attacked him. 
The rat turned upon him^ and succeeded in catching him by 
the feathers of the thigh, just as the dog entered the dining- 
room. It now was quite evident the cock had no chance ; 
so the gentleman let loose the dog, which instantly ran and 
laid the rat dead. For the dog's generosity, the cock 
jumped up and flew at him like a little fury, and followed 
him into the dining-room, when the gentleman drove him 
out, and shut the casement. His eyes flashed defiance, and 
he strutted up and down, and crowed enough to crack his 
little throat. He then ran off to the rat, and after pecking 
and striking at it several times, as if to wake it up, he crowed 
two or three times in token of victory. On the gentleman's 
examination of the rat, he found that both its eyes had 
been struck out. This affair certainly showed a great 
degree of courage in the little cock ; but for the rat to con- 
tinue the contest, even after it had been so painfully blinded, 
showed a degree of courage not often to be met with. Still 
this courage is not of that noble character which exerts 
itself for the mere love of victory, and v/ill rather die than 
surrender ; but it is prompted by the mere cravings of a 
ravenous and carnivorous appetite, or in self-defence. 
The following is a curious account of a combat between a 
rat and a weasel, which appeared in some of the Scotch 
journals : — - 
A man having entered a plantation on the estate of the 
Earl of Homo, in pursuit of rats, he observed one in deadly 
strife with a weasel. How long they had been fighting 
before he came he could not say; but, being besmeared all 
over with blood and mud, they presented a sorry spectacle, 
parts of their bodies being rendered bare from the fur having 
been torn off. The man stood quietly to see the result, and 
