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 Huropeus) 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 (larus ridibundus 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 ? 
T 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, itis included in the schedule appended to the 
Wild Birds’ Protection Act of 1880, and therefore any person 
killing owls between lst March and Ist August is liable toa 
penalty of £1 per bird. This Act is not very strictly enforced, 
