2U 
THE RAT. 
days together at a rat-liole. Sometimes they catch the rat, 
and sometimes not ; but look at the waste of time ! On the 
other hand, rats have keen noses, and can smell the cat ; 
so they shift their quarters to some other place of greater 
safety. The result is, that rats destroyed by the cat tribe 
are very few, because they cannot get into the holes after 
them ; but were they small enough, I doubt their courage ; 
for I have seen a large cat dead beat by a rat in a fair open 
contest, when the latter has been allowed to walk delibe- 
rately to his hole. 
But this I can tell you, that some cats are most destructive 
creatures among pigeons, rabbits, and chickens. These are 
facts in which I have been a sufferer. My first lot of 
pigeons I lost by rats ! After that, when living in the 
nieighbourhood of Oxford, I had another flight of fancy 
pigeons, comprising twenty birds in number. All went on 
very well for a time. Presently I missed one ; the following 
morning I missed another ; and so on for about a fortnight, 
when I found I had lost fourteen out of the twenty ! Of 
course it created a stir in the place, as to what had become 
of them ; and the neighbours began to suspect each other. 
However, a man came and told me that he saw a cat run up 
the road with a blue pigeon in its mouth not an hour before. 
This was the first thing in the morning before the people 
were stirring. We traced the feathers for some distance. 
When evening came, I loaded my gun, and requested 
them to wake me up at daylight. It was summer time ; 
so I left the window a little open to be ready. First thing 
in the morning they came to my bedside, and told me the 
cat was there. Out I crept to the window, and there I saw 
the gentleman, — a big tabby Tom cat, crouched between the 
leaves of a large sunflower. The pigeons were picking 
about the ground. I gently put the muzzle of the gun out, 
and waited for him. Presently one of the birds came near ; 
his tail began to move ; and just as he was in the act of 
springing, I fired, and fortunately missed the pigeon, but hit 
his lordship in the hind-quarters, and fatally stopped his 
career. Still, before I could get out, he had scrambled away. 
However, four or five days after, a little old woman came, 
inquiring if any one had seen her Tommy He was such a 
faithful creature, and always came home at breakfast-time 
