256 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS 



that it is almost as difficult to keep him out of the 

 hen yard or coop as it would be to exclude a squirrel ; 

 he is shy of traps and, among all animals, about the 

 most troublesome to get a shot at. If you have 

 ever seen a weasel poke his sharp face up through a 

 stone wall, get sight or scent of you (he works 

 largely by scent), and then travel along the wall 

 with great rapidity to get out of danger, you will 

 realize his cunning. He can be almost snakelike 

 in his bodily movements as he keeps obstacles be- 

 tween you and him, and he can absolutely disappear 

 from sight, when he wishes, with uncanny magic. 

 I have seen a weasel in winter, when he was all white 

 except the black end of his tail, sitting on a stone 

 wall. I have seen him take alarm and go into the 

 wall like a flash, to reappear instantly twenty feet 

 away, and then to reappear once more clear across 

 an open space of snow, which you would swear he 

 could not possibly have crossed without your seeing 

 him. 



Weasels progress by leaps, doubling up their bodies 

 as they land, so that the hind feet track in the front 

 paw-marks, and in the snow the trail looks almost 

 like that of a two-legged creature. When undis- 

 turbed or at leisure, these tracks are about a foot 

 apart, or three-fourths of the total length of the male 

 animal. (The female is three inches shorter.) But 

 when a weasel is at full speed he can make ten feet 

 at a leap. In my back lot in winter I find these 

 tracks most frequently around the brush-heaps or 

 straw coverings on the beds, where the mice live. 

 But they also run through a swampy growth where 

 there are rabbits. It is not infrequent in our woods 



