26 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



a brave quarry that has inhabited their fells from the Pleistocene 

 period. 



WEASEL. 



Mustela vulgaris, Erxl. 



This game little quadruped is still sufficiently plentiful about 

 our hedgerows to contribute in an important degree to the 

 destruction of the Brown Eat. If our good neighbours on the' 

 Borders would only encourage Weasels and Owls, in place of 

 exterminating their best allies, we should hear less of plagues of 

 Rats and Field Mice in the Scottish Lowlands. Weasels have a 

 weakness for young birds, but any harm that they do is limited 

 to a few weeks in the year, while they are always doing good 

 in season and out of season. 



The hateful Brown Rat has no more determined foe than the 

 Weasel, and a pair of these animals will, if encouraged, exter- 

 minate a large colony of Rats. That Weasels and Stoats take 

 to water readily is a fact of common knowledge, but instances of 

 the former species crossing large sheets of water voluntarily 

 appear to be rare. A Weasel was once killed when swimming 

 across Ulleswater at a point where the lake is three-quarters of 

 a mile broad. 1 



STOAT. 



Mustela erminea, L. 



Trapping has latterly checked the increase of the Stoat, and 

 though its weakness for leverets cannot be denied, it should be 

 accredited with rendering useful service in keeping down the 

 Brown Rat. Mr. T. Coward tells me that he has come across 

 large packs of Stoats on several occasions, always in the fall of 

 the year. They appeared to consist of the young of the year, 

 and were probably performing a partial migration. The Rev. T. 

 Lees informs me that he once saw a pack of Stoats hunting a 

 Hare in Gowbarrow Park. He stood still and saw both the 

 Hare and its pursuers pass within a very few yards of him. The 

 Stoats were in full cry. Stoats do not appear to vary as much 

 1 Carlisle Patriot, Dec. 29, 1843. 



