LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



possessed of a temper, apparently being pro- 

 voked beyond all endurance by her repeated 

 failures. 



Fearing that she might finally succeed, I got a 

 good stiff wire with the end bent up into a hook, 

 and getting a firm hold on the rabbit's head, 

 pulled in an opposite direction, and was surprised 

 at the strength exhibited by the slim little beast. 



Just as often as I succeeded in dragging it 

 half-way across the cage, she would come whisk- 

 ing after it, and, twisting loose the wire, go 

 staggering back in triumph with her prize ; and 

 when I at last got it as far as the doorway, 

 where I could grasp it with my fingers, she still 

 struggled with it, sometimes even touching my 

 fingers with her nose, but never offering to bite 

 them ; though I was rather more careless than 

 was perhaps wise, for a weasel bite is said some- 

 times to prove rather serious. Realising at last 

 that she was struggling against odds too heavy 

 for her, she concluded to abandon the uneven 



86 



