102 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



but among the loose craggy rocks. Martens 

 rarely show themselves till evening. They prey 

 on rabbits, hares, partridges, pheasants, and small 

 birds ; and when we say that, like the rest of 

 the Mastelidce, they kill for a love of killing, it 

 is not hard to understand why the Keeper's 

 hand is against them. They do great harm 

 in the coverts ; the old man shoots them, traps 

 them, and does them to death with various 

 subtle engines of his own machination. To-day 

 the Marten is rare ; soon it will be altogether 

 extinct. 



Weasels do much less harm. They are the 

 smallest of our carnivorous animals, and will 

 probably long survive. They often abound 

 where least suspected, in the cultivated as well 

 as the wildest parts of the country. They 

 take up their abode near farmhouses, in decayed 

 outbuildings, hayricks, and disused quarries ; 

 and are often seen near old walls, or running 

 along their tops with a mouse or bird in their 

 mouths. These things form the staple of their 

 food. There is no denying, however, that a 

 Weasel will occasionally run down the strongest 

 hare ; and that rabbits, from their habit of 

 rushing into their burrows, become an easy 



