STOAT AND WEASEL 233 



what dangerous neighbour for game of all kinds, 

 yet it must be kept in mind that the stoat is a 

 determined foe of the rat, as well as of the lesser 

 rodents generally, and the rat is perhaps the 

 worst enemy of all, both to the game preserver 

 and to the farmer. The growing plague of rats 

 is becoming a very serious, and even threaten- 

 ing evil, and it may be fairly urged that the stoat 

 in moderate numbers is, on the balance of evi- 

 dence, entitled to a verdict of ' not proven/ at 

 least. 



For the little weasel the case is stronger still ; 

 the farmer has no better friend, and those who 

 remember the plague of voles which not so long 

 ago caused much damage over large areas of 

 Scotland, will surely agree that here we have a 

 distinctly useful member of the community. It 

 may be noted in passing that few seem to know 

 that in the far north the weasel, like the stoat, 

 becomes white in winter, and is the M. nivalis 

 of Linnaeus. This has also been known to occur 

 in Switzerland, although not in Great Britain. 

 The so-called ' blood-sucking ' propensities of 

 this family are now admitted to be altogether 

 imaginary. 



So much has been recently written concerning 

 the squirrel and its malpractices that it is un- 

 necessary to say more than that it has been 



