136 Wild Life in Wales 



by no means the only " unfriends " of the gamekeeper 

 which make use of the shooting butts in the off-season. 

 Buzzards, and Ravens, frequently carry a prey thither for 

 discussion, leaving tell-tale remains, and droppings, behind 

 them ; but it was rather amusing to find that arch-enemy of 

 the game-preserver, a Stoat, taking advantage of the dry 

 lodging which a butt offered, to make it her nursery. A 

 single small round hole had been neatly drilled into 

 the peat, about half way up the back of the butt, but, 

 unfortunately for her, was so conspicuous that it at 

 once attracted the attention of a keeper. When the tenant 

 was dug out, and despatched, the cutting disclosed a warm 

 and roomy nest, excavated in the thickness of the " wall," 

 and snugly lined with bents and grass. Later on, I saw 

 another nest in a butt, on this moor, in which the young 

 stoats had been found, and killed, the plan of the chamber 

 being very similar to the first one. In each case, there was 

 only a single entrance. The stone cairns, and barrows, 

 likewise afford attractive retreats to Stoats, some of them 

 being apparently resorted to, as places of call, or occasional 

 bivouac, by all the stoat population of a district. A keeper 

 who knows his business at once recognises such a ren- 

 dezvous, and is not slow to turn his knowledge of the 

 ways of animals to account. The outward and visible signs 

 are rather suggestive of the back of a neglected ferret hutch, 

 Stoats, like dogs, having a decided partiality for transacting 

 certain parts of their business in particular places. The 

 first fall of snow in autumn, or a late fall in spring, are 

 sure to betray some such spots, and, properly taken 

 advantage of, lead to the destruction of more Stoats than 

 the trapping of all the rest of a season put together. Two 

 cases in point, both of which occurred on these moors, may 

 be instanced, as showing what can actually be done. They 

 were both carried out by the same man, who, although 

 suffering from an infirmity which prevents his getting over 

 the ground so quickly as his more fortunate brethren, has 

 yet by the exercise of a little of his Perthshire " gumption," * 

 proved, in more ways than one, the truth of the old adage 



1 Anglice, wit 



