NOVEMBER 295 



as something fell from the tree a bird, and with it 

 another creature of ruddy hue. The next thing she saw 

 was, not a weasel, but its near relative, a stoat, lifting the 

 bird bodily, and scampering down the gravel path to 

 shelter. Now there was the less excuse for this raid on 

 the fieldfares that my garden contains a deplorably large 

 population of rats and field- voles; but both stoats and 

 weasels are chivalrous sportsmen, and hunt for love of the 

 chase as well as for the pot. No doubt there was more 

 excitement in following a winged quarry among the 

 branches than in tracking a rat along the ground. Apart 

 from the difference in size, which is considerable, the stoat 

 may always be distinguished from the weasel by the black 

 tuft at the end of the tail. A distinction of singular note, 

 this, furnishing the sable points in ermine fur, which was 

 so highly esteemed in the reign of Edward in., that the 

 wearing thereof was reserved by statute as an exclusive 

 privilege of the royal family. The ermine is nothing else 

 than the stoat in its winter dress. This is regularly 

 assumed in the northern parts of the kingdom ; in the 

 midland and southern counties the change is sometimes 

 partial, making the animal piebald, but more frequently 

 does not take place at all. Mr. Millais gives the following 

 example of the sanguinary ferocity of this little beast of 

 prey: 



' Returning home one evening from ferreting, ... I chanced 

 to notice a new hole, such as is sometimes made by a female 

 rabbit when she breaks away from a main burrow, and looks 

 for some quiet place in which to deposit her shortly expected 

 family. When I looked into the hole, I saw the leg of a rabbit 

 protruding. I drew forth the warm body of a young rabbit 

 about a fortnight old, and the lacerated neck and head showed 

 plainly who had been the culprit. Procuring a hedge-stake, the 



