258 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



mindedness left the powder-flask on a stone whereon 

 the axis of a mill-wheel turned. When nearing 

 home he suddenly missed his flask, and happening to 

 turn round, saw it in his dog's mouth, she having 

 picked it up and followed closely at his heels, 

 carrying it. 



STOAT AND WEASEL 



On the sandhills beyond Caister, where rabbits 

 abound, the Stoat is not unknown. Nearer home, how- 

 ever, its appearance is an " event." Only on two or 

 three occasions have I met with one on the sand dunes 

 near the town. One poor bewildered thing, hunting 

 for an unwary Snow-Bunting, or anything else that 

 might fall to his lot, was suddenly surprised by a 

 friend of mine, who was quite as amazed himself 

 so much so indeed that ere it occurred to him to use 

 his gun the animal had viciously jumped at his legs 

 and literally forced him to an impromptu jig, when, 

 as if by magic, it disappeared, and hunt as he would 

 he could not discover the hole into which it must 

 have vanished. The probability is that he closed 

 with his heel the burrow the Stoat entered the moment 

 the animal had disappeared. 



Another Stoat regularly patrolled the seashore 



