VERMIN AND TRAPPING 93 



up and off before they retreat. I have shot many a 

 stoat and weasel by training my gun on a hole, and 

 pulling the instant the creature appeared. 



Viewing the question as impartially as I can, I 

 am against the idea that if stoats and weasels were 

 preserved there would be no rat plagues. Probably 

 there would be fewer rats, but I think imper- 

 ceptibly fewer, unless stoats and weasels became so 

 numerous (and rabbits, upon which they chiefly prey, 

 so scarce) that they would prove as great, or a 

 greater, pest than rats. And besides, stoats and 

 weasels would be inclined, in so far as they were 

 inclined at all to attack rats, to deal with the least 

 objectionable rats those farthest away from the 

 habitations of men instead of those of which it is 

 most desirable to be rid. Stoats and weasels seldom 

 attack an old rat, though they will go for young 

 rats when non-combative prey is not available. A 

 mother rabbit, though occasionally she will succeed 

 in driving a stoat away from her little rabbits, at 

 her worst is nothing to a mother of rats. Is it 

 likely, therefore, that a stoat or a weasel, by collar- 

 ing a young rat, would run the risk of a fight to the 

 death with its mother, when for the sake of a little 

 trouble, and with slight risk of a kick or a scratch, 

 young or old rabbits may be had? Rats never 

 attack stoats and weasels of any age in cold blood, 

 but only when they themselves or, much more 

 often, their young are assaulted. Frequently I 



