A Stoat's Larder 331 



the bank below. It reached the foot of the cliff, and, 

 apparently becoming aware of the presence of the Vole 

 amongst the grass above, made a detour, and came in upon 

 it within a few yards of where I sat. The Vole was quickly 

 despatched, and carried off to the shelter of a whin bush, a 

 little way off ; and upon my driving the Stoat out of that, it 

 fled at full gallop to the dingle, carrying its prey with it, 

 with the ease of a dog retrieving a partridge, and quite 

 undeterred by my pursuit, or the stick that was sent flying 

 after it. The curious thing was that the Stoat seemed to 

 wind its prey so far above it, and without hesitation to take 

 the roundabout (and only) way of reaching it. 



As an instance of the varied diet of such animals, as well 

 as of the manner in which they are able to travel with heavy 

 loads, the following may be worth recording. One day in 

 early spring, a keeper came upon a track in the snow, which 

 excited his curiosity. It was near the lake, and, after being 

 followed for several hundred yards, was run to ground, on 

 the side of the railway. Here, with the aid of some plate- 

 layers, a Stoat was unearthed, and despatched, and in its 

 larder were found a perch, and two eels, along with a freshly 

 killed partridge, the latter of which it was supposed had 

 been the cause of the unusual trail. The bird was intact, 

 except for a little mauling of the neck. The Perch, about 

 half a pound in weight, and the Eels, must almost certainly 

 have been brought a distance of at least a quarter of a mile, 

 and how such prey is captured can only be conjectured. 

 During summer weather, when Eels frequently travel over 

 land, they are, no doubt, liable to fall in the way of land 

 animals including the domestic cat, which sometimes brings 

 them home, and about whose methods of capturing them 

 speculation is often rife, but, with snow on the ground, 

 they would hardly be likely to leave the water voluntarily. 

 It is, moreover, not usual to meet with them so early in 

 the year, they being supposed to spend the winter buried in 

 the mud at the bottom of the water. Of course, it was 

 possible that all the fish might have been picked up dead by 

 the shores of the lake, though their very fresh state did not 

 seem to point in that direction. 



