Weasels and Stoats on the Prowl 203 



of putting your foot into one of these holes, which will 

 cause an awkward fall, if nothing worse. Some of the older 

 holes, now almost deserted, are, too, so hidden by nettles 

 and coarse grass as to be equally dangerous. 



The hereditary attachment of wild animals for certain 

 plaqes is very noticeable at the warren. Though annually 

 ferreted, shot at six months out of the twelve, and trapped 

 — though weasels and foxes prey on the inhabitants — still 

 they cling to the spot. They may be decimated by the end 

 of January, but by September the burrows are as full as 

 ever. Weasels and stoats of course come frequently, bent 

 on murder, but often meet their own doom through over- 

 greediness ; for some one generally comes along with a 

 gun once during the day, and if there be any commotion 

 among the rabbits, waits till the weasel or stoat appears at 

 the mouth of a hole, and sends a charge of shot at him. 

 These animals get caught, too, in the gins, and altogether 

 would do better to stay in the hedgerows. 



The grass of this great pasture has a different appear- 

 ance to that in the meadows which are mown for hay. It 

 is closer and less uniformly green, because of the innumer- 

 able dead fibres. There are places which look almost 

 white from the bennets which the cattle leave standing to 

 die after the seeds have fallen, and shrink as their sap dries 

 up. Somewhat earlier in the summer, bright yellow strips 

 and patches, like squares of praying-carpet thrown down 

 upon the sward, dotted the slopes : it was the bird's-foot 

 lotus growing so thickly as to overpower the grass. Mush- 

 rooms nestle here and there : those that grow in the open, 

 far from hedge and tree, are small, and the gills of a more 

 delicate salmon colour. Under the elms yonder a much 

 larger variety may be found, which, though edible, are 

 coarser. 



