368 



THE STOAT. 



the hare, an animal which frequently falls a victim to the Stoat. Yet it is enabled, by 

 its great delicacy of scent and the singular endurance of its frame, to run down any 

 hare on whose track it may have set itself, in spite of the long legs and wonderful 

 speed of its prey. When pursued by a Stoat, the hare does not seem to put forward 

 its strength as it does when it is followed by dogs, but as soon as it discovers the nature 

 of its pursuer, seems to lose all energy, and hops lazily along as if its faculties were 

 benumbed by some powerful agency. This strange lassitude, in whatever manner it 

 may be produced, is of great service to the Stoat, in enabling it to secure an animal 

 which might in a very few minutes place itself beyond the reach of danger, by running 

 in a straight line. 



In this curious phenomenon, there are one or two points worthy of notice. 



Although the Stoat is physically less powerful than the hare, it yet is endowed with, 

 and is conscious of, a moral superiority, which will at length attain its aim. The hare, 

 on the other hand, is sensible of its weakness, and its instincts of conservation are 

 much weaker than the destructive instinct of its pursuer. It must be conscious of its 

 inferiority, or it would not run, but boldly face its enemy, for the hare is a fierce and 

 determined fighter when it is matched against animals that are possessed of twenty 

 times the muscular powers of the Stoat. But as soon as it has caught a glimpse of the 

 fiery eyes of its persecutor, its faculties fail, and its senses become oppressed with that 

 strange lethargy which is felt by many creatures when they meet the fixed gaze of the 

 serpent's eye. A gentleman who once met with a dangerous adventure with a cobra, 

 told me that the creature moved its head gently from side to side in front of his face, 

 and that a strange and soothing influence began to creep over his senses, depriving 

 him of the power of motion, but at the same time removing all sense of fear. So the 

 hare seems to be influenced by a similar feeling, and to be enticed as it were to its 

 fate, the senses of fear and pain benumbed, and the mere animal faculties surviving 

 to be destroyed by trje single bite. 



I have no doubt but that this phenomenon is nearly connected with the curious 

 benumbing of the nerves, and the deprivation of fear which is recorded by Livingstone 

 in his well-known account of his adventure with a lion, which is mentioned on page 

 149 of this work. The preservative faculties of the hare are excited by the loud noisy 

 dogs that make so violent an attack upon the hare, and which consequently makes use 

 of all her muscular and intellectual powers to escape from them. But the silent, soft- 

 footed, gliding Stoat steals quietly on its victim without alarming it by violent demon- 

 strations, soothes it to its death and kills it daintily. 



Be it noticed that there are human types of the Stoat, or rather that the visible animal 

 is but an outward emblem of the inward nature. 



If, in the course of the chase, the hunted animal should cross a stream, the Stoat 

 will do the same, although, when it is engaged in the pursuit of water-voles, it seldom 

 ventures to follow them into an element where they are more at their ease than their 

 pursuer. Still, although it may not choose to match itself against so accomplished a 

 swimmer and diver as the water-vole, it is no mean proficient in the natatory art. 



Mr. Thompson relates a curious instance of the prowess which is displayed by the 

 Stoat in crossing a tolerably wide expanse of water. " A respectable farmer, when 

 crossing in his boat over an arm of the sea, about one mile in breadth, which separates 

 a portion of Islandmagee (a peninsula near Larne, county Antrim) from the mainland, 

 observed a ripple proceeding from some animal in the water, and on rowing up, found 

 that it was a ' weasel ' Stoats are called weasels in Ireland which he had no doubt 

 was swimming for Islandmagee, as he had seen it going in a direct line from the shore, 

 and it had reached the distance by a quarter of a mile when taken. The poor animal 

 was cruelly killed, although its gallant swimming might have pleaded in favor of 

 its life." 



As to the food of the Stoat, the animal seems to be very easily contented in this 

 respect, killing and eating almost any description of wild quadrupeds, birds and reptiles. 

 Of rabbits it is very fond, and kills great numbers of them, especially when they are 

 young. 



A curious scene between a Stoat and rabbit was once witnessed in Epping Forest. A 



