NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RABBIT 41 



Stoat, like a good sportsman who hunts his quarry by 

 scent, evidently looks upon the rat as a poacher, and 

 whenever he encounters him in his hunting forays 

 ' goes for him ' at once. 



We have watched stoats hunting both rats and 

 rabbits, and were once witness to a most determined 

 fight, on a road which crosses a Sussex common, 

 between an average-sized stoat and an enormous rat, 

 which was certainly much heavier than its adversary. 

 This fight, which was a trial of ' weight versus science,' 

 ended in favour of the stoat, which killed its adversary 

 and dragged it off the road into the furze on the 

 common. 



We are not at all in favour of exterminating 

 stoats. Where rabbits are plentiful a few stoats will 

 not do them much harm, and, as above hinted, will 

 do good in keeping down the rats, and thus saving 

 the pheasants' food and the pheasant chicks. Rats, 

 being so much more numerous than stoats, will do 

 much more mischief than the latter where game and 

 rabbits are concerned. 



The list of natural enemies of the rabbit would not 

 be complete without mention of the cat, which, from 

 its stealthy actions and skill in stalking, proves itself 

 on occasions to be an expert rabbit-catcher. This is 

 especially the case with the cats of cottagers who live 



