THE POULTRY BOOK. 
137 
No scryices whatever, on his part, v/ere required, as, before he reached them, victory 
had favoured our gallant hero. The kite had received a blow from the spur of the 
cock, — which, it should be borne in mind, v/as simply the natural one ; it had 
entirely destroyed the right eye, and bursting through the skull at the back of it, 
penetrated the brain, so that death ensued as instantaneously as by gunshot. 
It was only with difficulty the spur could be disengaged ; and the tenacious grasp 
of the kite was maintained even in death. The cock proved but triflingly 
injured by the mcdee ; and the fallen one, after being rudely preserved by some 
neighbouring taxidermist, still graces a private collection of the fauna of the 
United Kingdom. 
“ The second instance was not, as above, a casual occurrence, but premeditated 
by a couple of friends of mine, not only as a test of the dauntless valour of a 
Game hen, but to taach a useful and admonitory lesson to an intruder, whose 
fondness for chickens Imd added a somewhat extravagant item to the losses of a 
notorious poultry amateur, and that, too, among chickens of high merit and con- 
siderable pecuniary value. 
It seems a large cat had fcv many weeks been making daily incursions, and had 
succeeded not only in taking a chicken at every visit, but had likewise very seriously 
maltreated the old hens on three different occasions. They w^ere Cochins, and had 
become so alarmed by the frequent repetitions of these inroads as to scarcely make 
any attempt at protection for their chickens ; and consequently the cat had 
increased in audacity daily. It was under these depressing circumstances that a 
brother amateur volunteered ‘ a certain cure,’ if he w^ere allow^ed unrestrained 
liberty as to the means adopted ; a proviso most cheerfully permitted. Having 
cooped up all the chickens, and parent birds also, of the fowls that usually had 
sole possession of the yard, he produced a most beautiful Game hen and chickens, 
the latter not more than three or four days old ; the hen being armed with a pair 
of steel spurs, somewhat shorter than those used in the cockpit, but well suited 
for the purpose intended ; and being naturally a spurred hen, they were easily and 
firmly attached. The lot being placed at freedom in the yard, the hen, from all 
around being strange, was necessarily restless, and the chickens equally noisy. 
Grimalkin, with stealthy pace, w^as soon seen crouching along a wall about nine 
feet high ; the hen unfortunately at this moment had flown into the body of a 
covered cart, that prevented any possibility of her seeing the threatened danger. A 
spring from the top of the wall — or rather gliding dowm it some few feet, and then 
darting, as it were, from it midw^ay — placed puss in possession of the nearest 
chicken, and all the spectators thought certainly one ^"oungster w^as irretrievably 
forfeited to the experiment ; but the idea was erroneous : with a shriek the hen flew 
headlong at the enemy of her brood. Puss seemed but little concerned at her fury, 
as the impunity with which she had faced other hens seemed rather to inspire her 
with confidence, all but amounting to imperturbability. 
Perceiving the coming attack, the cat loosed the chicken from her mouth, but 
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