The Stoat and its ways. an 
by, and have gone off hunting, if its quarry be found in the open, 
In my experience every stoat is either secretive by nature, or else 
imagines that some other stoat will be pouncing upon its kill. 
Whenever one is viewed going to earth, at once dig out the 
burrow ; the owner will not leave,its sanctuary till the very end 
is reached, then its efforts to escape will be frantic. If there be a 
* side-pocket ” in the burrow, its evil-smelling food store will be 
there. By personal experiences in this way, any man can learn 
what one small animal is capable of doing in the way of pro- 
viding for itself. 
The question of supply, or of variety when it tires of one 
species of food—such as young rabbits—or the timidity and 
watchfulness its known presence causes-—for every bird gives its 
warning cry on seeing a stoat—entirely governs the actions of the 
little outlaw. If a temporary home means “ short commons,” it 
is soon on the move along stream or ditch, by a hedge bank, or 
round the outskirts of a well-stocked game covert. In summer 
weather, when the ditches are quite dry, they form hidden and 
convenient roads which stoats never neglect to use. “They have 
such a love of cover that they never come out in the open without 
sufficient reason. -Most ground-nesting birds know this habit 
well, and prefer a meadow, sainfoin, clover, or ryegrass fields to 
fences along which vermin are constantly hunting. 
So remarkably «lose does the stoat cling to cover during the 
hours of daylight that even an observant gamekeeper may not see 
one during a whole year. The weasel may be observed, or its 
voice heard, a dozen times to the stoat’s once. I have been 
resident over fourteen years at Cadney, and, though always on 
the look out, have not once seen a stoat in the open during that 
period.* Yet the keeper’s gallows-tree proclaims the certainty 
that they are, or rather were, as numerous there as elsewhere. 
The fact is, the whole genus are night, rather than daylight, 
hunters. The darkness not only protects them during their 
depredations, but it also renders their victims, both furred and 
feathered, much more accessible. The stoat is boldness personified, 
yet it gets its living by stealth rather than by fox-like cunning. 
* Since these words were written, during the last month I have 
seen one. On the other hand, I have viewed.the weasel often and the 
polecat once. I doubt whether the latter species—-the foumart, or 
foulmarten, as we locally call it—is now to be found in my parish, 
