The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-08-24
BONE QUEER FIGHTS.
ODD CoMBATS BETWEEN BEASTS
BIRDS AND INSECTS.

A Battle Between an Oyster and a
Duck, In Which the Bivaive Killed
the FOwI-A Toad That Put a Gar
ter Snake to Flight.
i have witnessed some queer fights in
my time" said my friend, the naturalist,
and been told of others equally strange,
and they were not between men or ma
tions, either"
Who were these combatants?"
Beasts, birds and fish-the domestic
ana the wild. and very often these two
classes pitted against each other. | once
heard terrible cutlery among the geese
swimming on pond, and on going to
see what the matter was beheld an i'm
mense gray eagle which had buried his
talons in the back of an ancient gander.
The latter was making all the noise he
could, and on 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 squawk and
waddled off toward the barn,
When was little fellow, was one
day fooling about village blacksmith
shop, which was built of logs A squeak
down in one corner attracted the atten-
ton of the smith and myself. We saw
large toad backing into the room from
under log, and 10 inch garter snake
came with it, the snake having swallow
ed one of the toad's hind legs. The
blacksmith caught up a pair of rather
warm tongs and caught the snake, which
dropped the toad with great alacrity.
we expected to see the latter hop away.
but instead of doing that he turned
about, leaped into the air and came down
on the snakes back. He bit again and
again, and at last the reptile turned tail
and disappeared under the log, while
MS toadshlp sat down and blnked at
us both in satisfied and victorious con-
tent
Inc speaker spun story after story of
queer encounters he had seen or been
told about One of these was a fight be-
tween a bumblebee and a locust. The
bee went for his enemy, which evidently
relt 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
as 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 a
brood, which afforded some entertain
ment for a colony of rats installed in
f6l DniUb hOrhopI
of the chicks had disappeared the hen
began to open her eyes. and, being open,
they rested on a sleek rat that was edg-
ing up to small fowl that was in
specting a crust of bread. Before the
rat knew where he was at he found a fat
and angry hen upon his back, digging
away with beak and claws. A moment
later he found himself lifted into the air
and then chucked into the water of a
convenient tub and held there until he
was drowned.
a COW and horse were once stabbed
side by side in adjoining stalls down in
Enon valley, Pennsylvania The former
was of a sociable nature. while her COM
panion was morose. Whenever he got
near to the open board partition the COW
would thrust out her tongue and touch
his side. His reception of this pleasantly
ought to have warned her, but it didn't.
One day he was on watch. and when the
long red tongue came through the open
ing he seized it between his teeth and
bit about six inches of it clean off. The
COW had to be killed
The oyster that whipped a duck was
probably as greatly surprised at the out
come as was the fowl himself. The oyster
was enjoying his meal. and after the
fashion of his kind had opened his shell
until the greater portion of his body-if
1t can be called that-was revealed to
view. The duck was diver, and when
he saw juicy oyster open to his advances
he made jump for it. But the bivalve
was too quick. The shells snapped to-
gether, and then came a struggle for life.
The oyster was dragged from its bed,
with three smaller ones clinging to it,
but the bunch had weight enough to keep
Mr.. Divers head under water until he
was drowned.
That's a pretty lie," was my natural
comment.
'There is no lie about it. The body of
the duck held the whole outfit up and
kept it afloat. and the duck was picked
was still warm.
81 heard of fight between a hen and a
hawk that showed unexpected pluck The
old hen was peacefully scratching away
with her brood when there was a whir of
wings in the air, and a hawk, with his
wings close to his body. landed among
the frightened little ones. The hen laid
out her plan of campaign and never wa
vered in carrying it out. Her wings ex-
tended, the feathers upon her tough old
neck became a-ruille, and she met the
hawk headforemost. As soon as he
touched the ground she went for him.
There was an exciting round. and luck
went with courage that time. The hens
beak entered the eye of her opponent,
penetrated his brain and laid him lifeless
at her feet. He measured just four feet
from tip to tip.
81 once saw a large spider and a small
spider in pursuit of a house fly. The
small one caught him and had started
for his parlor when the big spider pounc-
ed upon him, colared the fly and started
off. The little one then crept up in the
rear, bit the big fellow on the leg and
ran away. The big fellow began to swell
up, and in less than five minutes was
dead. In fight between a parrot and a
rat the bird pecked his eyes out. killed
him with beak and claws and then sprang
up to her perch and chanted Polly wants
a cracker "-Cleveland Plain Dealer.
COMMON HOUSE FLIES.