1 68 Stoats and Weasels. [Sess. 



them by gamekeepers and others. The Government of New 

 Zealand, however, now regards them in a very different light, and 

 is spending large sums in transporting them from this country. 

 An amusing conversation recently took place — so says one 

 of our comic papers — between two Cockneys who had been 

 reading an article on the exportation of stoats and weasels to 

 I^ew Zealand. " What," asked one, " is the difference between 

 a stoat and a weasel ? " " That, I should think," replied the 

 other, " will not be so weasily explained." " Oh yes," re- 

 marked his friend, " the one's stotily different from the other." 

 Though they differ from each other essentially, still it is true 

 that an affinity exists between them, many of their haunts, 

 habits, and peculiarities being identical. Weasels being smaller 

 than stoats, their hunting-ground is in a much more limited 

 area. Dry-stone dykes, cairns of stones, and hedgerows are 

 their favourite habitats. Their staple food, where there is no 

 young game, is mice. This I have clearly demonstrated by 

 examining the contents of the stomachs of those I have shot 

 in the vicinity of Edinburgh. Where young game is abun- 

 dant, the destruction caused by weasels is incalculable. Game- 

 keepers who have had experience in rearing young pheasants 

 are well aware of the havoc one weasel will commit if it should 

 obtrude its presence in the locality. So destructive are the 

 weasel tribe in their habits, that should one effect an entrance 

 where rabbits or chickens are being reared, everything that 

 partakes of life is ruthlessly destroyed. They are merciless 

 tyrants, meaningless murderers, shedding blood from mere 

 wantonness. In illustration of the bloodthirsty and ferocious 

 character of the weasel tribe, I may mention that a neighbour's 

 boys had a pair of rabbits confined in a house, with a brood of 

 eight young ones nearly half grown, and a second litter, seven 

 in number, about ten days old. Hearing a noise about seven 

 o'clock one evening in the rabbit-house, the boys went to ascer- 

 tain the cause. On opening the door, a " whaasel " made his 

 exit by a small hole and effected his escape. It was, however, 

 discovered that the entire fifteen young rabbits had been 

 cruelly slaughtered, the speck of blood behind the ear reveal- 

 ing the spot where the weasel tribe, with unerring accuracy, 

 seize their prey and cut the artery, which in a few minutes 

 terminates the sufferings of their victims. The noise which 



