94 Mr. J. K. Ilarting on Forest Animals. 



No apprehension need be felt about the proximity of a 

 badger to a farmstead. He is of a retiring disposition, and 

 will keep out of man's way as much as possible. 



Badgers sleep away nmch of their time in winter, and 

 can go a long time without food. Their footprints are 

 seldom seen in the snow. 



Amongst the carnivorous animals which may often be 

 seen hanging up in " the keeper's museum " at the corner 

 of a wood, are the Weasel and Stoat, the latter distin- 

 guished by his larger size, and longer tail with a black tuft 

 at the end of it. 



Weasels I regard as particularly useful animals, for they 

 destroy a vast number of mice and voles. They should 

 always be encouraged in the stackyard, instead of being 

 caught and nailed up against the barn. Stoats I am not 

 so sure about. They kill rabbits, leverets, and young game 

 birds. Doubtless they kill field-mice too. I have twice seen 

 a stoat carrying a short-tailed vole as a retriever would a 

 rabbit ; and I once witnessed a fight between a stoat and 

 a rat, in which the stoat, after a tremendous struggle, 

 came off victorious. 



Both stoats and weasels hunt by scent, as I have several 

 times proved by personal observation, and I could relate 

 many curious anecdotes of what I have witnessed. Both 

 these animals swim well, and do so voluntarily. I once 

 had the pleasure of watching an old stoat giving her young 

 one a swimming lesson, and a very entertaining sight it 

 was. They carry their young in their mouths, as cats do 

 their kittens. 



The stoat becomes white, or nearly so, in wmter ; but 

 there is usually a patch of brown on the face, and the tip 

 of the tail is always black both summer and winter. 



The weasel very rarely becomes white. I have only 

 seen two that were so : one killed at Willoughby, in 

 Leicestershire, in the winter of 1867 ; the other in Soham 

 Fen, Cambridgeshire, in September, 1879. 



The Polecat (from which the ferret is descended) is now 

 becoming a rare animal in England, and is not often to be 

 seen, so extensively has it been trapped by game preservers 



