THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



V. WEASEL AND RABBIT 



How the weasel catches the rabbit seems to be a 

 mooted question. That he does catch him, every 

 hunter and woodsman knows, but how, since the 

 rabbit is much fleeter of foot? Some persons think 

 the weasel stalks the rabbit, or mines down under 

 him in the snow and thus seizes him in his form, or 

 outwits him by some other strategy. 



My own observations, as well as those of many 

 others, lead me to believe that the weasel inspires 

 the rabbit with such terror that the poor beast is 

 in a measure paralyzed and falls an easy victim. 



One morning after a light fall of snow, during my 

 walk through the fields and woods I saw a rabbit- 

 track and a mink-track together. I followed the 

 trail to see what had happened. I had not gone 

 far when I discovered tufts of rabbit-fur upon the 

 snow; a few yards farther and there were drops of 

 blood, the rabbit's leaps growing shorter and 

 shorter, and in a few moments I came upon the 

 half-devoured body of the rabbit lying in the open. 

 That the mink had run the rabbit down and caught 

 him was as plain as the snow record could be. There 

 was no hiding under the snow by the mink and not 

 the least evidence that the rabbit had been surprised. 

 Rabbits see behind them quite as readily as before, 

 and I doubt if any animal could steal upon a moving 

 rabbit at night and not be seen. 

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