THE WEASEL AND THE STOAT (THE ERMINE). 83 



had thought would be the case, and, much to my 

 delight, paid the penalty with his life. 



Though, like most very bold and ferocious 

 animals, the weasel family is very low down in the 

 scale of intelligence, the little renegades neverthe- 

 less resort to many clever and effective tricks when 

 hunting. On approaching in the open game that 

 cannot be reached in any other way, they will 

 begin a series of the most wonderful feats of con- 

 tortion leaping into the air, chasing their tails, 

 looping the loop a foot from the ground, and so 

 on, till the creature they are after becomes con- 

 sumed with curiosity, and, owing to the quickness 

 of their movements, is unable to judge their exact 

 distance. Pheasants and barn-door fowls become 

 so overcome with curiosity on seeing a stoat or 

 a weasel behaving thus that they actually stroll 

 to meet him, as though mesmerised, while each 

 evolution takes the little murderer nearer and 

 nearer on his way. A final leap, a quick dash, 

 and his object is reached out goes another good 

 pheasant or barn-door fowl 1 



The weasel is certainly of royal blood in the 

 family to which he belongs, and the stoat, though 

 so much larger, will not face him. The domestic 

 cat is a fierce and formidable fighter, but I have 

 seen an old poaching torn flee in furious panic 

 from one end of a heap of sticks when a weasel 

 entered the other.* A fox will similarly turn away 

 from a weasel if he can conveniently do so ; indeed, 

 it seems that few animals can tolerate this musk- 



* Since writing this, I have been informed by Mr F. J. Hutchison 

 that in the garden of his house, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, he 

 watched a stoat ' running ' a domestic cat round the grass plot. Finally 

 they closed, the stoat intent on business, the cat obviously in terror. 

 Unfortunately, however, a noise from the house broke off the interest- 

 ing conflict. H. M. B. 



