MARTENS, POLECATS, WEASELS, STOATS 199 



so rapid that they looked like strips of india-rubber 

 being thrown about. Their little game was success- 

 ful, for when one had got near enough he vanished 

 behind a clump of flowers until the bird tripped by ; 

 then he had him in a flash, while his companion 

 played the same little game with another. All the 

 weasel tribe practise more or less the little ruse of 

 so taking up the attention of their quarry by their 

 strange antics that they may get near enough for a 

 final rush when their prey is in any open space. 



Small as the weasel is, he is just as destructive, 

 considering his size, as that largest of the family, the 

 marten. The whole tribe are bloodthirsty, and yet 

 I have been surprised, in a long and close acquaint- 

 ance with them, to see the little harm they do, 

 bearing in mind their great destructive powers. In 

 all the barren spots covered with loose stones that I 

 have examined, I found mice were abundant, and so 

 were certain birds and other creatures. And yet 

 polecats, stoats, and weasels were found there too, in 

 numbers varying according to the locality. Game, as 

 I said before, was not preserved then, and it was only 

 occasionally that you heard of mischief being done 

 at any of the outlying cottages or farms. They fed, 

 undoubtedly, on mice, rats, and birds, and in some in- 

 stances on vermin more to be feared than themselves. 



