CAPTURE OF ANIMALS. 29 



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 fol- 

 lowed 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 sensi- 

 ble 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 the single bite." 



The mink, marten, fisher, and other members of the weasel 

 family, a"re said to exercise an influence on their prey similar 

 to that above described. 



The color of the Ermine in summer is a light reddish brown 

 on the upper parts of the body, and lighter tinted or nearly 

 white underneath. In winter, in the high northern latitudes, 



