Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-22
SOME QUEER FIGHTS.
How an Oyster Killed Duck and q
Toad Put IA Snake to Flight.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
Il have witnessed some queer fights in
ny time" said my friend, the naturalist.
"a he leaned back in his armchair in a
cozy cottage at Spring Lake. and been
told Of others equally strange-and they
were not between men or nations. either"
Who We're these combatarts?"
Beasts, birds and fish. The domestic
and the wild. and very often these two
classes pitted against each other. l once
heard a terrible outcry among the geese
swimming on pond, and on going to see
what the matter was beheld an immense
gray eagle which had buried his talons in
the back of an ancient gander The lat
ter was making all the noise he could and
Oh seeing me swan directly toward me
The eagle tried to rise with his prey. but
his purchase on the wind was not strong
enough To lift the load When they were
within reach seized the bird and held his
head under water until he was drowned.
The old gander then gave satisfactory
sGr#wk and waddled off toward the barn.
hen l was a little fellow l was one
day fOoling about village blacksmit h
shop. which was built Of logs. A squeak
down in one corner attracted the attention
of the smith and myself. We saw large
toad backing into the room from under a
log. and a fifteen-inch garter snake came
with 1.-THE snake having swallowed one of
the toad's hind legs. The bla cksmith caught
up par Oh rainier warm longs ana caught
the snake. which dropped the toad with
great alacrity. We expected to gee the
latter hop away but instead of doing that
he turned about. leaped into the air and
came down on the snakes back. He hit
again and again and at last the reptile
turned tail and disappeared under the log
while his toadship sat down and blinked at
us both in satisfied and victorious content"
The speaker spun story after story Of
queer encounters he had seen or been told
about One of these q fight between a
humble bee and a locust. The bee went for
his enemy which evidently felt the point
OF the attack, and tried to get away, but
the hot little insect was too much for him.
They fell to the ground together. and the
tussle continued for few minutes, when
both fell over if exhausted. In a little
while the bee revived and flew away with
the air Of one who had paid dearly for his
victory The locust was left dead upon the
turf There was also hen which had
raised brood which afforded some enter
tainment for a colony of rats installed in
the neighborhood. After three or four of
the chicks had disappeared the hen began
to open her eyes, and being Open they
eested a sleek rat that was edging up
90 small fowl that was inspecting {,
crust of bread. Before the rat knew where
H. was at he found fat and angry hen
upon his back. digging away with beak and
claws. A moment later he found himself
Nfted into the air. and then chucked into
the water of a convenient tub, and held
there until he drowned.
A cow and horse were once stabbed side
by side in adjoining stalls. DOWN in Enon
Valley. Pa The former was of sociable
nature. while her companion was morose
Whenever he got near TO the open board
partition the cow would thrust out her
tongue and touch his side. His reception