"A gentleman residing on Stoke Hill, near this city, has in his possession a hen which answers the purposes of a cat,
"She is constantly seen watching close to a corn rick, and the moment a mouse appears she seizes him in her beak and carries him to a meadow adjoining where she amuses herself by playing with her victim until he is dead: She then leaves him, repairs again to her post, and is frequently known to catch four or five in a day'
"This has been her constant practice for months past, during which time she has killed a great number of those destructive vermin,"
The fact that the poor mouse is given a masculine pronoun seems to me to add terror and pathos to this mind-shattering story from 1817!
This monstrous hen was clearly her master's pride and joy as well as being a celebrity who was reported in the newspaper. There should, perhaps, hang a portrait of her in the parlour at the Stoke Arms.
Source: The Exeter Flying Post, 30th January 1817
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