16 Transactions. 



the course of the year, it certainly seems as if it would pay best 

 to leave the stoat alone. Undoubtedly, the rat is capable of 

 atrocities which the stoat would never think of. For example, at 

 a farm steading not far from here, I heard of their killing and 

 devouring two young pigs ; and this was not all. They after- 

 wards killed a calf. At this rate, it is not unlikely that before 

 long they will kill a cow, and they may not stop there. They 

 have frequently been known to attack man. If the stoat is to be 

 saved from extermination there is no time to be lost, as he is 

 already becoming a very scarce animal, and probably the next 

 four or five years will see the last of him in this district. The 

 common weasel (mustela vulgaris) is still frequently to be seen, 

 but I doubt if he is such a formidable enemy to the rat as the 

 stoat. He is a very useful little animal, however, and should be 

 protected by law. The hedgehog (erinaceus EitropceiisJ is also 

 sadly in want of some such protection. He is fast being exter- 

 minated, and will probably soon be extinct, although only a few 

 years ago so common that one could scarcely take a walk in the 

 fields on a summer evening without seeing several, usefully 

 employed hunting for slugs in the dewy grass. As slugs form 

 the chief food of the hedgehog, it is obvious that he must do an 

 immense amount of good in that way, probably far more than we 

 realise. Now that the blackheaded gulls (lanes ridihundus L.) 

 have become so scarce hereabouts, I don't know of any other 

 check to the increase of slugs, and everyone who has anything to 

 do with gardening knows what damage slugs can do. Why do 

 not those who have walled gardens keep a few tame hedgehogs % 

 I don't know whether slugs are more numerous now than they 

 used to be, but certainly they are now a very serious pest, and 

 will increase when there is no check upon them. Two years ago 

 I saw a field of newly brairded oats so covered with small grey 

 or white slugs that there must have been on an average at least 

 thirty or forty to the square yard, and they very nearly destroyed 

 the crop altogether. This state of things may not be due to the 

 destruction of hedgehogs, but I am at a loss to imagine any more 

 likely cause. Among birds of prey, undoubtedly the owl is most 

 deserving of protection, and it is protected to a certain extent by 

 law ; that is to say, it is included in the schedule appended to the 

 Wild Birds' Protection Act of 1880, and therefore any person 

 killing owls between 1st March and 1st August is liable to a 

 penalty of £1 per bird. This Act is not very strictly enforced, 



