228 Practical Game Preserving. 



ones ; owing to its piercing sight and acuteness of scent, it 

 can discover nests of all sorts more easily than any other 

 animal, and climbing with strength and agility any tree, 

 there are few nests that the stoat cannot attain ; even those 

 situated in hollows, &c., are, owing to the size of the hole, 

 liable to admit the vermin ; indeed, there are but few of all 

 our birds that place their nests beyond the almost universal 

 reach of the stoat. 



Further, the stoat has a particular fondness for the squirrel, 

 and in spite of the nimbleness of that pretty and harmless 

 little animal, it occasionally falls a victim to stoats. We 

 advisedly employ the plural, for we doubt if the ermine be 

 sufficiently subtle to capture the squirrel single handed, one of 

 the most vigilant little animals we have, and it is only by 

 chance that one becomes " cornered" by several stoats 

 hunting in company. In illustration of this we may relate 

 an instance which came under our notice, showing clearly the 

 peculiar manner which these vermin have of hunting in 

 packs. We were one morning taking the usual round to 

 examine some rabbit traps set in a certain field, along one 

 side of which there are some large ash trees standing at 

 various distances apart, and, moreover, planted in a deep 

 hollow which runs up this particular side of the field. On 

 approaching we heard a loud noise of vermin screeching, 

 and on the lower branches of one of the trees, separated 

 by a wide gap on each side from the rest of the row of ash, 

 were three stoats in a state of great excitement, while on the 

 ground were four more, equally excited, all evidently directing 

 their attention to a squirrel on the highest part of the tree, 

 which the three first mentioned were endeavouring to reach. 



