76 THE WEASEL AND THE STOAT (THE ERMINE). 



work was completed I strode up and introduced 

 the weasel to my terrier, who knew just how to 

 handle such gentry. 



Unlike the stoat, the weasel never hunts on the 

 earth's surface if there is any possibility of pursuing 

 his whimsical and murderous way underground. 

 He will follow stone walls, running along inside 

 them in travelling across open country ; then, leaving 

 the wall, he makes for a drain, emerges to follow a 

 mouse-run, and so on and so forth, seeming to possess 

 an instinctive knowledge as to where such shelters 

 exist. This is all the more remarkable since this 

 little killer never remains long enough in one 

 locality to become properly acquainted with every 

 tunnel and cranny. Generally he is exploring new 

 country, with which he must be totally unfamiliar, 

 yet when fired at, or suddenly beset by dogs in the 

 open, he darts unerringly for the nearest tunnel, 

 the mouth of which may be completely overhung 

 and concealed by grass. 



It may be a matter of surprise to many that 

 so small and short-legged a creature is capable of 

 running down animals that are much larger and 

 more speedy than itself; but one only needs to see 

 a weasel at work in order to realise that no animal 

 it normally hunts has the least chance of escape 

 when pursued, terrorised, and perhaps surprised by 

 so unwelcome a visitor. The weasel can outrun a 

 hare, and is bold enough and savage enough to 

 invade a building literally swarming with large, 

 ferocious house-rats. One afternoon I was amusing 

 myself by shooting rats which had taken possession 

 in vast numbers of an old outlying barn. Having 

 put some meal down in the open, I waited a little 

 distance away, armed with a B.S.A. air-rifle, and 

 almost immediately veritable strings of rats, large 



