110 
THE RAT. 
no further effort, but sent forth a plaintive slirieli, and tlien 
surrendered quietly to its ruthless foe." 
Mr. Jesse says, the progress of this experiment brought 
to proof the instinctive character both of the rat and ferret, 
and their reasoning powers. Still it must be borne in 
mind, that this was by no means a fair contest, because it 
took not only the ferret, but the doctor too, to defeat the rat ; 
and I perfectly agree Avith jjiir. Jesse's belief, that in a state 
of nature, or in a fair field, the rat would prove triumphant ; 
but that in close quarters, and particularly in the dark, the 
insidious ferret would in most cases prove the victor. 
For the authenticity of the next anecdote I am indebted 
to the Quarterly Beview." 
A gentlemaji was witness to a battle between a rat 
and a ferret, with this great difference — the rat had 
fair play, and was allowed to hold fair possession of the ad- 
vantageous position it had struggled for, and which position 
enabled it to beat off and defeat the wily ferret, which was 
absolutely bitten into shreds over the head and muzzle. 
The repetition of the same system of attack and defence by 
a second animal shows that this particular species of cunning 
is a general faculty of the rat tribe. Still, the main supe- 
riority of the ferret is, not only its dogged determination to 
retain its hold, when once it has fastened on its prey, but 
to suck the life's blood of its victim ; whereas the rat 
mostly fights by a succession of single bites, which wound 
but do not always destroy. ISTevertheless they will som.e- 
times hang on by their teeth with great tenacity, and rather 
suffer death than relinquish their hold ; still they never 
roll on their sides, and criddle up their victim with that 
deadly, bear-like hug, as does the ferret, and the whole of 
the weasel tribe. 
