RABBIT AND STOAT 109 



it on the assumption that this Egyptian race of cats 

 had become subject to a fatal weakness, a hypnotic 

 effect caused by the sight of a great blaze. In like 

 manner, if our chaffinch gets too much excited and 

 finally comes down to be destroyed by a weasel, when 

 he catches sight of that small red animal, or sees him 

 going through that strange antic performance which 

 I witnessed, it does not follow that the weakness or 

 abnormality is universal in the species. It may be only 

 in a race. 



Again, with regard to rabbits: when hunted by a 

 stoat they endeavour to fly, but cannot, and are de- 

 stroyed owing to that strange one might almost say 

 unnatural weakness; but I can believe that if a 

 colony of British rabbits were to inhabit, for a good 

 many generations, some distant country where there 

 are no stoats, this weakness would be outgrown. It is 

 probable that, even in this stoat-infested country, not 

 all individuals are subject to such a failing, and that 

 hi those which have it, it differs in degree. If it is 

 a weakness, a something inimical, then it is reasonable 

 to believe that nature works to eliminate it, whether by 

 natural selection or some other means. 



The main point is the origin of this flaw in certain 

 races, and perhaps species. How comes it that certain 

 animals should, in certain circumstances, act in a 

 definite way, as by instinct, to the detriment of their 

 own and the advantage of some other species in this 

 case that of a direct and well-known enemy ? It is 



