WEASEL FAMILIES 173 



until just before the time of covert-shooting, when 

 the work will seriously disturb game. Keepers 

 prefer to trim the rides on their beats themselves, 

 at such odd moments as between the feeding of hand- 

 reared pheasants, and with the help of labourers who 

 are glad enough to earn a few extra shillings during 

 the long evenings of July. The work in this way is 

 done betimes, and all the better for shooting pur- 

 poses. The harvest migration of game to the woods 

 tells many a story to the keeper. Foxes who have 

 spent a happy summer entirely in the game-stocked 

 cornfields do not come in unnoticed. Fresh-made 

 runs in the fences leading to the coverts tell of the 

 passage of stoats. Hedgehogs work their way in from 

 the fields ; they are more numerous than most people 

 imagine, and the keeper holds them responsible for 

 many a ruined game-nest. 



As the summer wanes, families of stoats and weasels 

 break up, and parents cease to have any dealings 



with their offspring. This severance of the 

 Weasel f am jjy ties throws a light upon wild creatures 



and their young. Having given their young 

 ones a good start in life, many seem to dismiss 

 them from their minds. One grove will not 

 nurture two robins, and the day conies when Cock 

 Robin will drive his young hopeful into the world, 

 and will attack him fiercely if he dare again approach 

 his presence. The wild rabbit that on one day, in 



