This woman silently walked around New York City for 10 hours and filmed every catcall she received. Courtesy: Hollaback

A LITTLE boy, who leapt to the defence of a stranger, has shown you don’t have to be big and strong to be a hero.

The boy, James, reportedly stood up to a catcaller after he heard the man swear at a woman who was jogging past.

Julia Price was on her routine run when she heard an older man call out to her, she wrote in a Facebook post that has received more than 855,000 likes.

The man, who Ms Price describes as a “well-dressed” office worker, yelled “Sexy lady, hey hey hey sexy lady!” as she ran by.

When she failed to respond to his cat calls, the man got angry and told her, “Eff you, dumb b****h!”

Ms Price says she was about to confront her harrasser, when a young boy beat her to it. James had been walking past with his mother and little sister at the time.

I was on my usual running path when I heard an older man yelling loudly enough for me to hear through my headphones. "... Posted by Julia Price on Wednesday, 18 November 2015

“Hey. That is not nice to say to her and she didn’t like you yelling at her,” James said to the man. “You shouldn’t do that because she is a nice girl and I don’t let anyone say mean things to people. She’s a girl like my sister and I will protect her.”

The boy’s comments put the man in his place and, embarrassed, he quickly gathered his things and left.

Ms Price says she hugged James and thanked him for coming to her rescue. James reportedly shrugged it off, simply saying, “Well, I just wanted to make sure your heart was okay”.

It seems this wasn’t the first time the little boy has taken on the role of hero. “According to his mother, this is a typical day in the life of James,” wrote Ms Price.

Ms Price expressed her gratitude to all the parents out there who are raising kind, thoughtful kids like James.

“Thank you so much to the mothers and fathers who are raising the next generation to be brave and courageous, and to be little earth angels for all. I am so touched”