HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE ERMINE. 127 



able to distinguish hi in from a Weasel, and, bounding into a 

 hedge near the path, he there concealed himself; whence he 

 would probably go forth again, when he perceived that all was 

 safe, and would perhaps follow up the scent from which I 

 had disturbed him. I was thus an eyewitness to the fact of a 

 Stoat being able to pursue its prey on scent, and I have little 

 doubt that nature has given the sense of smelling, in a similar 

 degree, to the Weasel and Polecat; which will therefore 

 readily account for their being so destructive to game, and 

 chiefly for their instinct in finding the nests of partridges and 

 pheasants during the breeding season. 



"... A Stoat does sometimes take to swimming. Wallv- 

 ing on a fine evening in the spring, a few years ago, by the 

 banks of the Wear, between Schinclift'e Bridge and Old Dur- 

 ham, I noticed an animal swimming in the water; and, making 

 haste to the place, which was just below the same bank 

 whereon I Avas walking, I saw that it was a Stoat; it then swam 

 gently across the river, which is there both deep and of con- 

 siderable width, to the opposite bank, where, owing to the 

 thick brushwood, I lost sight of it. In the act of swimming, 

 it lifted its head and neck well out of water, like a dog ; and 

 so differed from a water rat, which usually keeps its head 

 close along the surface." That the Stoat readily takes to the 

 water, and swims well, has, however, been long known. Pallas 

 makes this statement : "habitat .... necnon circa aquas, 

 in quibus etiam priedam non illibenter qucerit, optime natans'', 

 and similar testimony is afforded by the writings of various 

 authors. Audubon, however, says nearly the reverse: — "The 

 Ermine avoids water, and if forcibly thrown into it, swims 

 awkwardly like a cat." But this should be taken with qualifi- 

 cation, like the same author's further statement, that the ani- 

 mal "does not, like the Fisher and Pine Marten, pursue its 

 prey on trees, and seems never to ascend them from choice, 

 but from dire necessity, when closely pursued by its impla- 

 cable enemy, the dog." The Ermine indeed is neither so 

 aquatic as its congener, the Mink, nor so much at home on 

 trees as the Martens; but it has too frequently been observed 

 in such situations to admit the doubt that it both swims and 

 climbs with ease and without reluctance. 



The always pleasing pen of Mr. Wm. ^Macgillivray has fur- 

 nished ns with the following general account of the habits of 

 the Stoat as observed in Great Britain : — " It appears that in 



