1 20 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



little way very swiftly, then stop, turn to the right or 

 left, make a short detour, and afterwards on again in 

 a straight line. So the pack of weasels darted for- 

 ward, stopped, went from side to side, and then on a 

 yard or two, and repeated the process. To see their 

 reddish heads thrust for a moment from the holes, then 

 withdrawn to reappear at another, would have been 

 amusing had it not been for the reflection that their 

 frisky tricks would assuredly end in death. They ran 

 their quarry out of the bank and into a wood, where 

 I lost sight of them. The pack of eight was seen by a 

 labourer returning down a woodland lane from work 

 one afternoon. He told me he got into the ditch, half 

 from curiosity to watch them, and half from fear — 

 laughable as that may seem — for he had heard the 

 old people tell stories of men in the days when the 

 corn was kept for years in barns, and so bred 

 hundreds of rats, being attacked by those vicious 

 brutes. He said they made a noise, crying to each 

 other, short sharp snappy sounds ; but the pack of five 

 I myself saw hunted in silence. 



Stoats, though not so numerous as weasels, proba- 

 bly do quite as much injury, being larger, swifter, 

 stronger, and very bold, sometimes entering sheds 

 close to dwelling-houses. The labouring people — at 

 least, the elder folk— declare that they have been 



