THE WEASEL AND THE STOAT (THE ERMINE). 81 



yet indirectly it is, because its underground 

 passages, running out into the open, enable the 

 weasel to surprise game which otherwise he would 

 stand no chance of surprising, except by a very 

 elaborate and cautious stalk. Locating game- 

 birds out in the open, he makes the best of his way 

 towards them through the mole-runs, peeping out 

 now and then to correct the direction, till ulti- 

 mately he darts to the surface in their very midst, 

 seizing one of them ere the startled creatures have 

 time to realise what manner of death has burst 

 upon them. A strong cock-pheasant or a grouse 

 will often succeed in rising in the air, taking the 

 weasel with it, but generally the bird falls after a 

 short flight, the weasel's teeth fast in its throat 



On one occasion I saw by the tracks in the 

 snow that a grouse, thus surprised, had carried 

 the weasel a matter of eighty paces, heading down 

 into the glen, and evidently intent on making for 

 the burn, as a hard-pressed bird often will. It 

 had landed, however, two or three feet short of 

 the water, on a sandy bar, and here a terrific 

 struggle had taken place, the grouse making for 

 the water, while the weasel was fighting to restrain 

 it. Apparently the weasel had not had it all his 

 own way, as the tufts of russet fur clinging to the 

 snow indicated ; but in the end he of course killed 

 the grouse, and tried to drag it into a tiny cranny 

 under a shelf. The body of the victim was much 

 too large to be dragged in, and in his infuriated 

 endeavours the weasel had actually dragged the 

 bird's head off! 



The ferocity of the weasel passes all belief. 

 One day my brother and I were motoring slowly 

 along a tortuous country-road, when on rounding 

 a corner we saw two weasels, one in pursuit of the 



W.A. / 



