RATS AND SNAKES
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The following occurrence was recently related to me by a young farmer living on my estate in Monmouthshire. I give it in his own words :— " While planting marrows on the manure heap by a hedge I was attracted by a movement in the bottom of the hedge. I was surprised to see a rat holding on to the tail of a snake. When the rat saw me he ran away. The snake was nearly dead and I put my foot on its lte-ad to examine it. Its tail was bitten through about 2i to 3 inches off the end of its tail. The snake measured 3 feet long. While eaamining it J. Lane (a labourer on the farm) came by, and we heard another movement in the hedge. I stepped nearer, and was astonished to see the rat at another snake's head falling down the bank. (This evidently refers to the snake.) The rat went around to the snake's tail again and bit it through about 3 inches from the end of the tail. The rat held on until the snake was lifeless. The snake did its best to get in the manure and did' not attempt to fight the rat. This snake was bigger than the first."
It would be interesting to know whether any of your readers can speak to similar experiences. I imagine that the explana- tion of the occurrence is that the snakes had discovered the rat's nest and were proposing to swallow the young. Had the rat been killed it would have been possible to ascertain whether it was a buck or (as I should guess) a doe.—I Lim,
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