CH. VIJI.] BOLDNESS AND VORACITY OF STOAT. 243 



in the stones at the entrance. On attempting to 

 pull this out I found myself resisted by some force 

 pulling hard at it from within, but succeeding, not 

 without some difficulty, in doing so, it was followed 

 by the head and shoulders of a stoat, making most 

 angry and energetic demonstrations of hostility, 

 and accompanying them with the same savage hiss 

 that I had before heard. I tried to get hold of 

 him, but he avoided coming to close quarters, 

 luckily for my fingers, so I had my cowardly satis- 

 faction by calling in the aid of a keeper, who lived 

 not far off He laid siege to the place with gins, 

 and a campaign of a couple of days or so resulted 

 in the capture of an old mother stoat and six 

 young ones nearly as large as herself. I was 

 rather conscience-stricken, when he told me that 

 he had first caught the old one, and then a young 

 one, using her body as a bait ; thinking it was a 

 strong case of seething the kid in its mother's milk. 

 I might, however, have spared myself any such 

 scruples, for the affectionate infant had, as I found, 

 come to his mother, not to suck but to eat; and, 

 in fact, not only did he and his brothers and 

 sisters finish her, but the whole of this united 

 family, save one who made his escape, eat one 

 another up, the survivor going off with the whole 



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