SOME STRANGE INCIDENTS 141 



hit me in the face, and nearly succeeded in dislodging me ! Inside the hollow 

 was the duck's nest, with some six or eight eggs lying amid the down. 



But the hollow tree had yet further surprises in store for me, for on visiting 

 it some weeks later, and climbing up with the resolve not to jump if the duck 

 dashed out I received perhaps an even greater shock than before. For, as 

 I peered in to look on to the nest, I was met, not by the form of the fljdng 

 duck, but by an angry ' tchak ' that issued from somewhere just inside the 

 hole. 



As I gazed within, and my eyes grew accustomed to the light, I thought 

 that the shght movements I could distinguish were made by some young 

 ducks ; then it seemed that a little form I could make out was a weasel with 

 its head buried in the dry chips of wood and dust at the bottom of the hole. 



Presently the httle creature — which I now saw was a stoat — raised its 

 head, and, advancing to within six inches of my face, uttered its spitting ' tchak ' 

 — and retired again up the hollow trunk. 



Presently I saw its head appear from a hole some 12 feet further up 

 the tree — another entrance to the ' chimney ' which led up from its nest. 



I knew that the chimney existed, for in the previous year two Barn Owls 

 had ilown into the hole where the stoat now had her nest, and had emerged 

 from the upper exit. I thereupon cUmbed up to this top hole, and, peering within, 

 could clearly see the stoat inside. Three or four times she came to the entrance 

 of the hole — which by this time smelt strongly of offensive odour which the stoat 

 is capable of emitting — and ' spat ' at me ; once when I had my face close to the 

 hole. 



On chmbing down again, and once more looking into the nest hole, I thought 

 that I could see what seemed to be the head of a small rabbit near the nest, 

 but on reaching and withdrawing it found that it was a yoimg stoat, which its 

 mother had been covering with rabbit iwc when I first looked in. 



I discovered that there were altogether five of these young stoats hidden 

 amongst the duck's down and rabbit fur in the corner of the hole. 



Such young stoats — ^as shown in one of the illustrations — ^are provided with 

 a ' scruff ' at the back of the neck, which consists of loose skin covered with 

 comparatively long hair, the hair being of a much redder colour than that 

 with which the rest of the body is covered. 



This " scruff ' is an instance of the maimer in which Nature provides for 

 the peculiarities of her children; for it happens that stoats are very much 

 addicted to the habit of carrjdng their young from place to place, and in fact 

 seldom allow them to remain in one particular spot for any length of time. 



That stoats are efficient tree-climbers, I have long had reason to know, 

 for I remember in my school-days chmbing up to a squirrel's nest in a tall 

 oak-tree in which I expected to find a family of squirrels, and my amazement 

 when a stoat darted out ! My friends at the bottom of the tree thought that 



