1889-90] Rats and the Balance of Nature. 331 



district, cats are exceedingly numerous, and in snow their 

 tracks are seen everywhere. Weasels are also numerous, and 

 are frequently seen in close proximity to where rats are bur- 

 rowing in dozens. One writer in the ' Scotsman ' gave a 

 graphic description of a fight between a weasel and a rat on 

 the property referred to, and added that he had " often seen 

 specimens of these animals in that locality." He stated that 

 the rat was an " unusually large one " (which means about a 

 pound and a quarter), and " the weasel of the ordinary size " 

 (under a quarter of a pound). The battle was evidently a 

 mutual one, the attack having been renewed after they were 

 disturbed. The rat acted on the offensive, as was the case 

 with the one I had shut beside a stoat in a large cage. In 

 both cases the rat was killed ; but in my experiment the stoat 

 was severely bitten, and died from his wounds. How the 

 weasel fared after the fight we have no means of knowing ; 

 but this I do know, that rats are as plentiful on the identical 

 spot as ever they were before. 



Only once in my life have I seen a combat between a rat 

 and one of the weasel tribe in their normal condition ; but as 

 it was a small rat and a large stoat, the battle was of short 

 duration. One writer stated he saw a weasel hunt a number 

 of half-grown rats, and kill one in " two seconds or less." This 

 I do not believe. Eecently I was walking with two friends, 

 when we heard a young rabbit squealing a short distance from 

 the road. Borrowing a stick, I crept noiselessly forward, and 

 observed a weasel hanging on to the neck of a small rabbit, 

 which was struggling to escape. So much was the weasel 

 engaged with its prey that it never observed me, and with a 

 stroke of the stick I killed both it and its victim. Fully a 

 minute must have elapsed from the time we first heard the 

 squealing of the rabbit until I interfered ; and the statement 

 of half-grown rats — which are over half a pound in weight — 

 being killed in " two seconds or less " may safely be consigned 

 to the region of romance. I do not overlook the fact that 

 while the instinct of the rat leads to its seizing its prey by 

 any part which it may think vulnerable, it is otherwise with 

 the weasel and the stoat. By a remarkable and terribly fatal 

 instinct they strike only, and with unerring accui-acy, at the 

 leading artery at the back of the neck, which is death. 



