118 FASCINATION 1 



quite two feet into the air and turning a clean somer- 

 sault, anon racing again in circles. The blackbird sat 

 motionless ; I expected that at any moment the stoat 

 would spring upon it, which it might easily have done ; 

 but nothing of the kind happened. I watched the 

 creatures for about seven minutes, as nearly as I can 

 judge, during which the stoat never ceased its violent 

 gyrations and antics and the blackbird never stirred, 

 until suddenly it got up and flew away. The stoat, 

 apparently not caring to perform without a 'gallery,' 

 resumed its normal gait and disappeared in the bushes. 



Now, if the blackbird was ' fascinated ' in the sense 

 of an arrest of motor volition, what broke the spell ? 

 The acrobat was at the height of his antics when the 

 bird flew away. It is fair, I think, to assume that it 

 had been deeply interested in the performance up to 

 a certain point, for it is not usual for a blackbird to sit 

 motionless for seven minutes on a spring morning (I 

 know not how long the performance had been going on 

 before I happened to look from the window), but it 

 does not seem that its volition had been suspended. I 

 incline to think that the bird had become so much 

 interested, perhaps amused, by the freakish antics of 

 the stoat that it stayed to watch them long enough 

 for the stoat, had it been so minded, to make a pounce. 



In his great work on British mammals, Mr. J. G. 

 Millais refers to the well-known habit of the stoat to go 

 through extravagant antics by way of ruse in approach- 

 ing rabbits or small birds ; but he also cites instances 

 in which this animal, than which none is more blood- 

 thirsty, behaves in this queer manner without any 



