Ill 
CHAPTER XIIT. 
UNITED ATTACKS OF HATS. 
That rats feel unity to be strength, and becoming em- 
boldened by numbers make united attacks and combined 
onslaughts, are facts not generally known or understood, 
but which the following accounts may satisfactorily prove. 
At one end of the Serpentine Eiver, there is an arch 
passing beneath the pathway to a precipice of rugged 
stones on the opposite side, for carrying off the surper- 
fluous waters of the river, after heavj^ rains, &c. On 
either side of this precipice there are trees, bushes, long 
grass, &c., in profusion ; these form an excellent retreat 
for a multitude of rats, which have taken shelter there, and 
which, I am informed by one of the park-keepers, commit 
great ravages among her Majesty's ducks. On a summer's 
afternoon, as I was passing by this spot, there were 
numbers of these rats, of very large size, regaling themselves 
on the remains of a dead cat, which had been thrown over 
the railings. Several persons were looking on, when one indi- 
vidual pitched a little stone at them ; but, so far from their 
being frightened or running away, they ran after the stone 
as it rolled down the precipice to the water at the bottom. 
This afforded sport for some minutes by keeping them run- 
ning after small stones, wdien up came a boy with a little, 
active, barking cur ; the boy hallooed his dog, and put it 
through the railings. When it made its way towards them, 
they all cowered down like so many cats after a bird, 
evidently with a design of making a simultaneous attack ; 
but the dog, being suspicious of their design, began barking 
and jumping, as you will frequently see them do in front of 
a cow. The rats, nothing daunted, crept nearer and nearer, 
when one sprang at him, and another, then a third, and so 
on as they came within distance, all of which he as dexter- 
ously avoided by jumping out of their way and barking. 
At last the attacks and returns to the charge became so quick 
and determined, that, like a sensible cur, he turned upon 
