WILD LIFE IN HARD WEATHER 203 



trusts to the woodland sanctuaries, and there, 

 during the day, searches the tangles on the 

 outskirts of the trees for acorns and berries. 



Many creatures now become torpid. Others 

 fall into a state of lethargy from which the call 

 of hunger every day arouses them. Except 

 when thus awakened, the weasel, stoat, and 

 polecat he curled up in the furthest corner of 

 their burrows, doubtless longing for winter to 

 pass away. Like the otter, they abandon some 

 of their wild ways at this season. Occasionally 

 the stoat is seen to peep from a hole in the farm- 

 yard wall, when huntmg the rats that have 

 entirely forsaken the fields to take up an abode 

 in warmer quarters. 



The members of the weasel tribe, were it not 

 for the rats and mice at the farm, would find it 

 difficult to live through a long period of frost. 

 The keen air of night benumbs them. After 

 dusk they seldom, if ever, venture forth from 

 their burrows. By force of circumstance the 

 habits of all three animals are changed. So 

 sensitive are these creatures to cold that they 

 choose the warmest part of the day for a visit 

 to the neighbouring warren or corn-stack. But 

 at that time the rabbits are generally abroad, 

 enjoying the shght thaw ; and the stoat and 

 polecat have no alternative but to pursue them 

 through the furze or along the hedgerows. Such 



