THE WEASEL. 447 



killing game. For instance, Mr. C. J. Massey, of Galloway House, 

 Garlieston, Wigtonshire, made the following admission (1710): — 

 " Since I went to Galloway House I have taken a particular note of all 

 the vermin killed, and for that purpose I have a ' vermin-hook,' which the 

 keepers fill in, and bring a return to the head gamekeeper every week. It 

 is sent to me monthly, and I can see for myself from it how many have 

 been killed. We killed last season (1891-92) 556 Weasels at Galloway 

 House, and I believe that fully one-fifth were Stoats, the remaining four- 

 fifths being little Weasels." 



It would seem, however, that the Weasel is sometimes blamed 

 for the work of the Stoat. Andrew Watson, a gamekeeper in 

 Teviotdale, admitted that " Weasels will not stop much up on 

 these high ranges," where Grouse are. They are down on the 

 sheep-farms where the Voles abound, and where there is little or 

 no game, and about the farmsteads or " shielings," the haunts of 

 Rats and Mice. It is the Stoat which lives in the loose stone 

 walls on the higher ranges, and which preys chiefly on Rabbits, 

 which (according to the head keeper of the Duke of Buccleuch at 

 Drumlanrig) "are to a certain extent over most of our moors, and 

 where they are, the Stoats prefer them to Voles." 



The head keeper of the Duke of Buccleuch at Langholm, 

 Mr. John Kerss, having about 100,000 acres under his charge, 

 was asked (908) : — 



11 When you use the word ■ Weasel ' do you apply that term in the 

 generic sense, including both the larger Stoat and the smaller Weasel? — 

 Yes. 



H Do you mean to say that the smaller one of the two is destructive to 

 game? — Yes; to a certain extent, but not to the same extent as the 

 larger one. 



11 Would you not say that the smaller animal hunts Rats and Mice in 

 their runs? — Yes; it goes under the name of Mouse-hunter. 



" Then you would not consider it so destructive (to game) as we have 

 been led to infer? — Not nearly so." 



Both Weasels and Stoats were admitted by several witnesses 

 to be very useful in keeping the stock of Rabbits down within 

 reasonable limits. One witness, Mr. John Borland, of Auchen- 

 cairn, over whose farm Weasels had been exterminated, said, " For 

 the last ten years we have had an annual plague of Rabbits, and 

 there is not a single Weasel left to prey on the young broods of 

 Rabbits*" 



