THE STOAT AND WEASEL 



357 



making them jumy) merely iov the fun 

 of it. 



The question whether Stoats ami 

 Weasels have the power of fascinating 

 small birds by gambolling before them 

 is of interest by reason of the numl^er of 

 observers who honestly belie\-e that the}' 

 have seen this power exercised. For my 

 own part I ha\-e never had such good 

 fortune. I ha\-e seen both Stoats and 



he again showed complete indifference to 

 his surroundings. 



Gi\'en an excited assemblage of small 

 birds engaged in mobbing a Stoat or 

 Weasel, who treats them with contempt, 

 it is hkely enough that an individual 

 may occasionally overreach himself and 

 fall a victim to his own imjjrudence, 

 not to say impudence. This, however, 

 can hardly be credited to ' fascination," 



THE STOAT. 

 The head in this picture should be compared with that of the Weasel at the commencement of the article. 



Weasels " mobbed " by small birds. On 

 one occasion I remember getting close to 

 a " mobbing " on a foggy October morn- 

 ing. A Stoat was up a walnut tree some 

 twelve feet from the ground, while a 

 heterogeneous pack of small birds were 

 Vjehaving in much the same way as they 

 will in the presence of an owl. I had a 

 good view of the Stoat, who listened to 

 their hysterical twitters with complete 

 indifference. " It never troubles a wolfe 

 how many the sheepe be." 



This Stoat, on sighting me, leapt 

 straight to the ground and vanished, 

 for which retreat a peculiarly arrogant- 

 looking robin a])peared to take cre<lit. 



I have seen a Weasel actually i)laying 

 while small birds were mobbing him, and 



nor need the partial paralysis, which 

 seizes on hare or rabbit when Stoat or 

 Weasel is close upon them, be attributed 

 to some occult power exercised by the 

 pursuer. It is more likely to be the result 

 of terror and exhaustion combined. I 

 have seen a rablnt drag itself through 

 the hedge-row and dro]i dead in the 

 middle of the road without a sound. 

 I have seen another stop short in mid- 

 field, and heard it scream until the Stoat 

 reached it. I have seen a Stoat Ivap on a 

 rabl)it which was sitting motionless with 

 closed eyes stark in the open. In inn- 

 nection with all these cases it nuist l)e 

 rememlx-red that jirobably they are tlie 

 fi}!is/i of the tragedy. It must be a grim 

 business from the start. One can fancy 



