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Wild Life in Wales 



his subordinates, might do worse than take the matter to 

 avizandum. 



It is very well known that Stoats can, and do, climb well 

 upon occasion. I have frequently surprised one in a high 

 tree, especially in firs, and have more than once watched 

 one climb up and descend a considerable tree, for no other 

 apparent reason than play, or exercise ; but I was, never- 

 theless, a good deal surprised at the ease with which the 

 animal just referred to descended, head first, the per- 

 pendicular trunk of the chestnut tree. All such creatures 

 are exceedingly "sure-footed." One of the keepers at 

 Llanuwchllyn one day saw a Stoat, followed by her half- 

 grown family, cross the Twrch on the wire supporting-rope 

 of a water-gate an old pit-rope it is not more than half 

 an inch in diameter. Once, when fishing, I watched a 

 Weasel make its way to a sort of island, in a boggy hole in 

 one of the fields, along a single strand of wire not so thick 

 as my pen-holder, forming a connecting link between two 

 ends of a fence. Whether the special object of the journey 

 was the pursuit of a Water Hen I do not know, but at any 

 rate one of these birds had a somewhat narrow escape 

 amongst the rushes, and, when it had flown, the Weasel 

 very quickly returned over his suspension bridge again. 

 Upon my mentioning this incident to a farmer, he at once 

 predicted rain, saying that whenever a Weasel is seen 

 climbing, or playing about the top of a fence, rain will 

 surely fall within twenty-four hours. He recalled how 

 once, in his youth, he had been starting with his father to 

 drive to market, when, a mile or two from home, a Weasel 

 was seen frisking along a rail by the roadside, and his father 

 at once turned the horse's head, and, hastening home, made 

 all endeavour to get his hay in. They finished the stack 

 before dark, and next morning it was wet, the rain con- 

 tinuing till much of the neighbours' hay, lying ready for 

 leading, had been spoiled ! 



Superstitions regarding the Weasel are, however, common, 

 and are not confined to Wales only. Here, it is considered 

 to be a sign of coming change in the weather to see a 

 Weasel run round a stone in the direction contrary to the 



