Big-kitten made very short work of it; his victim sat waiting as if put there for him by the Creator. To capture it was child’s play.
Thus did the world with its colours and sounds vanish from the consciousness of the little brown starling.... Sharp teeth buried themselves in its neck and greedy lips sucked its blood.
THE CONQUEROR
Big-kitten would not devour his booty on the spot. In addition to being a great hunter, he was very fond of bragging of his exploits. He started, therefore, on the return journey at once, in order to display his booty outside the cat borough.
Forward through the green grass he treads, slowly and carefully. His white forepaws appear first ... as if feeling their way; then follow the round head, plump body, and gently swishing tail. His jaws seem enormous, and his neck looks swollen—but this is because he is carrying the bird in his mouth.
He grips it by the middle; head and neck dangle down on one side, legs and tail stick out on the other; while along the ground drag its limp wings, on which his forepaws keep treading and delaying his progress....
Presently he puts his burden down for a breathing-space—now he picks it up again; his hairless little red nose-tip flattens out, and his yellow, slanting eyes close viciously as he crunches it in his teeth.
As it happens, none of the others are outside the hole when he arrives, so that he receives no immediate applause; he therefore begins to run about miauwing, which soon fetches out the whole band. They shall view him as conqueror!
With the young starling dangling from his jaws and his tail hoisted proudly he swaggers in among them. He twitches a wing tantalizingly under their noses, making them snap jealously at it. At last he lies down and devours his booty with exasperating calmness and deliberation.
However, the young starling is more than he can manage at one sitting, and when he is satisfied he begins to play with the remains.