92 THE WEASEL AND THE STOAT (THE ERMINE). 



then began to descend, clutching and falling from 

 one icy branch to another till within ten feet of 

 the ground, when he dropped and made off 

 perhaps realising the utter futility of such a method 

 of hunting. Weasels also climb during keen, cold 

 snaps, though they are less given to this form of 

 hunting than stoats. They feed at such times 

 almost exclusively on mice. 



TRAPPING. 



Weasels and stoats are the easiest animals on 

 earth to trap, as they make use of every drain 

 that comes in their way, and, indeed, are not 

 opposed to going out of their way in order to 

 run down a drain of any kind. They do not 

 fear the scent of steel, and will bound on to the 

 spring-plate of the most obvious gin that clumsy 

 fingers ever contrived. Keepers use dreadful traps 

 very considerably for weasels. These consist of 

 small square wooden tunnels placed through wall- 

 bottoms so as to lead, perhaps, from the moorland 

 to the covert boundary, or between any other 

 favourite hunting-grounds of the weasel kind. In 

 the centre of the tunnel is the trip mechanism 

 which the weasel is sure to disturb in passing, 

 whereupon a heavy log falls like a guillotine from 

 above, shattering the life out of the little freebooter, 

 as he himself has shattered the life out of so many. 

 On one occasion a stoat was taken in a false floor- 

 box trap set for rabbits, and during the night two 

 rabbits and a big tom-cat fell into the pit to keep 

 him company. The company must have been 

 very lively while it lasted, for next morning the 

 box was found to contain two dead rabbits, a 

 dying tom-cat, and a much-mangled, though still 

 lively, stoat. 



