38G FRAGMENTS. 



another colony of Norsemen, until one of them creeps 

 from the hole. But the rat is still more afraid of the 

 stoat ; there is no escape from him, for he can follow them 

 to the inmost recesses of their earth. Early one morning, 

 when looking after blackcocks on the stubble, I detected 

 a stoat entering a rat's hole. As he had not seen me, I 

 stood ready to shoot him, expecting his reappearance. I 

 noticed something move on the ground, a little way off, 

 which proved to be one of the largest male rats I had ever 

 seen, giving its last kick, and weltering in a pool of blood. 

 It had been seized by the crown of the head, and no other 

 wound was perceptible. Wishing to ascertain whether 

 hunger or enmity was the cause of this attack, I returned 

 after breakfast, and found the rat dragged to some distance, 

 and its neck and shoulders devoured. 



At another time, in East Lothian, I witnessed a most 

 curious chase after a rabbit by a stoat. Close to the House 

 of Hopes, where I was spending the summer, there are two 

 knolls, one a low sandy one, covered with furze and broom, 

 and all catacombed by rabbit-burrows. Standing upon the 

 higher knoll, I perceived on the one beneath a rabbit 

 dotting along, with a young one, as I thought, following. 

 It was soon plain that the little creature in the rear was a 

 stoat. From my high position, I easily commanded a full 

 view of the hunt. Twice did the tiny pursuer track its 

 prey the whole round of the knoll, a distance of some 

 hundred yards, the rabbit refusing to enter any of the 

 numerous burrows, although it was sometimes so nearly 

 seized as to be obliged to vault into the air to escape. At 



