THE WEASEL AND THE STOAT (THE ERMINE). 77 



and small, came streaming forth from the nooks 

 and crannies to feast on the meal. I had shot 

 eight or nine of them, when suddenly every 

 rat mysteriously melted away, and peering up to 

 ascertain the cause, I beheld a small russet animal 

 bounding nimbly down the wall-side towards the 

 barn. It was a weasel, of course ! 



He saw me instantly, and darted into the wall ; 

 then, after the manner of his kind, he poked his 

 head from a cranny much nearer and regarded me 

 with his small black eyes. Immediately I raised 

 the rifle he darted back, to appear, almost the same 

 second, from another cranny several yards distant, 

 and again to disappear. This he did probably a 

 score of times, now only two yards distant, now 

 away up the wall, then actually from under the 

 eaves of the barn, passing from one point to the 

 next with such speed that it was almost impossible 

 to believe there was only one weasel present. One 

 would have thought there were half-a-dozen of the 

 little beasts stationed all up and down the crazy 

 building, and popping out their heads in turn 

 such was his quickness in running through the 

 interior of the masonry. It would have required 

 a good snap-shot to kill him, even had I been 

 bent on doing so ; but it occurred to me that 

 he was capable of playing more havoc among the 

 rats in five minutes than I could have executed in 

 a week, so I left him to it. Presently he lost 

 interest in me, and judging from the stirring-up 

 and the sounds of murder that then began to issue 

 from inside the barn, I imagine the rats were well 

 aware some one had called.* 



* To-day, 24th March, I found the skeletons of a stoat and a rat 

 lying about two yards apart on the moors in the Lyne valley. They had 

 evidently perished in mortal combat. H. M. B. 



