CHAPTER THIRTEEN WEASELS 



disappeared, and which was the highest in the field. The 

 next moment I saw something spring up as quick as light- 

 ning.anddisappearagainalongvviththebird. I then thought 

 it time to interfere, and found that the weasel had caught 

 and killed the bunting, having, evidently guided by his in- 

 stinct or observation, waited concealed at the foot of the 

 plant where he had expected the bird to alight. A friend of 

 mine who was a great naturalist, assured me, that, track- 

 ing a weasel in snow on the hill-side, he found where the 

 animal had evidently sprung upon a grouse; and, on carry- 

 ing on his observation, he had convinced himself that the 

 bird had flown away with the quadruped, and had fallen to 

 the ground about thirty yards off, where he found it with 

 its throat cut; and the tracks of the weasel again appeared, 

 as if he had come down with the bird, and having sucked 

 its blood, had gone on its way, looking for a new victim. 



The stoat is also very common here,andequallydestruct- 

 ive and sanguinivorous — if I may use such a word. Being 

 larger, too, he is more mischievous to game and poultry, 

 and not so useful in killing mice. I often see the stoat hunt- 

 ing in the middle of an open field: its activity is so great 

 that few dogs can catch it. When pursued, it dives into any 

 rat's or mole's hole that lies in its way. I find that a sure 

 mode of driving all animals of this kind out of a hole, is to 

 smoke tobacco into it. They appear quite unable to stand 

 the smell, and bolt out immediately in the face of dog or 

 man, rather than put up with it. Tobacco-smoke will also 

 bring a ferret out of a rabbit-hole, when everything else 

 fails to do so. In winter the stoat changes its colour to the 

 purest white, with the exception of the tip of the tail, which 

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