Ground Vermin The Weasel. 249 



put a stop to. Indeed, if this latter step is not taken at 

 the earliest opportunity, the cure often proves far worse 

 than the malady. 



A determined destroyer of the comparatively harmless 

 water-vole, the weasel is often looked upon as doing good 

 in this direction, whereas, on the contrary, it is working 

 destruction among the numbers of what is by no means a 

 mischievous animal. It pursues the voles through the often 

 long and tortuous ramifications of their burrows, made in 

 the soft sandy soil of river banks, and should they take 

 to the water it does not hesitate to follow them, as it is 

 nearly as adept in the unstable element as the voles them- 

 selves. 



Moles the " blind and silky " moles find in weasels their 

 worst enemies and most ruthless destroyers ; and were we 

 as prone to look upon the mole as the most alarming 

 nuisance some farmers do, we might well say that the 

 weasel has at least one extenuating feature in its habits. 

 Pursuing the mole through its dark passages under the 

 soil, the swiftness of the weasel is rather impeded by their 

 smallness, and so the two animals are about upon equal terms, 

 as the mole can often, owing to its superior knowledge, 

 dodge its pursuer. It is quite a common occurrence for 

 the weasel (which seems to have rather a liking for the 

 operation) to chase the mole in this manner, and we have 

 unexpectedly caught weasels in the common mole traps, 

 such a peculiar eventuality being rather a pleasing one, 

 owing to its being what is termed something quite out 

 of the common. 



We have now carefully detailed all the principal methods 



