FRIENDS OR FOES? 197 



stop for a second and look at you with his bright 

 eyes, and then go on with his hunting. His victims 

 are hares, rabbits, rats, mice, and birds; but his 

 favourite prey is the common wild rabbit, which he 

 hunts with the dash of a fox-hound, killing quickly 

 and neatly. 



I never weary of watching that Puck of the hedge- 

 row, the weasel, for he surpasses the whole of his 

 tribe in agility ; he is bloodthirsty and destructive, 

 too, like the whole of his tribe. His colour is the 

 same as the stoat's, excepting that his tail always 

 matches his upper parts. The smallest of his tribe, 

 his body only measures about eight and a quarter 

 inches in length, his tail two inches. At times 

 weasels are very scarce. During the last year, 1889, 

 I saw more of them than I had done for twenty 

 years ; and mice I know were less common, for I had 

 actual difficulty in procuring enough — though I paid 

 for them — to feed my pet owl. The weasel ought 

 to be fostered as a friend to man, especially about 

 rickyards and barns. The harm he might do would 

 be more than compensated for by his good services, 

 for he is a most determined mouse-killer. It is a 

 fine sight to see the diminutive creature carrying a 



