xiii THE STOAT Iig 



When I have shot one, killing it on the spot, before he has 

 seen me, no smell is to be perceived. The same thing I have 

 also observed when it has been caught in a large iron trap, 

 which has killed it instantaneously, before there has been time 

 for fear or struggling. When, however, I have had some chase 

 after a stoat before shooting it, or have caught one alive in a 

 trap, the stench of the little animal is insupportable, — and sticks 

 to the skin, in spite of every attempt to get rid of it. 



The attachment of the stoat and weasel to their young is 

 very great. I chased a weasel into a hollow tree : she was 

 carrying some animal in her mouth, and though I was on the 

 very point of catching her before she got to her refuge, she 

 would not drop it. I fancied that it was a newly-born rabbit 

 that she was carrying off. I applied smoke to the hole, and 

 out came the weasel again, still carrying the same burden. 

 She ran towards a stone wall, but was met by a. terrier half- 

 way, who killed her, catching her with the greater facility in 

 consequence of her obstinacy in carrying away what I still 

 thought was some prey. On picking it up, however, I found 

 that it was a young weasel, unable to run, which its mother 

 was endeavouring to carry to. a place of safety, her former hole 

 in an adjoining field having been ploughed over. I cannot 

 express my regret at the fate of this poor creature, when I saw 

 that her death was caused wholly by her maternal affectioh. 

 Notwithstanding the havoc which these animals make among 

 my rabbits, nothing would have induced me to molest her, had 

 I known what she was carrying. 



The track of the stoat is very like that of a young rabbit, 

 and may be easily mistaken for it. They travel over an 

 amazing extent of ground in their nocturnal rambles, as their 

 marks in the snow can testify. The edges of rivers and brooks 

 seem their favourite hunting-places. By some means or other 

 they manage to catch eels. I tracked a stoat from the edge of 

 a ditch to its own hole, at the distance of several hundred yards. 

 He had been carrying some heavy body, as I could plainly see 

 by the marks in the snow ; and this, on digging out the hole, 

 I found to be an eel about nine inches long. No bait is better 

 for all kinds of the weasel tribe than fish, which they seem to 

 have a great liking for, and evidently feed upon whenever they 

 inhabit a neighbourhood where they can procure them. 



