300 



THE WEASEL. 



pigeon-cot being in jeopardy by a three weeks' visit 

 from the weasel. 



About a year ago, my worthy tenant, Mr. Words- 

 worth, of Walton village, remarked that the in- 

 terior of his pigeon-cot was every now and then in 

 commotion. I observed to him, that, as amongst 

 other English delicacies, the Hanoverian rats are 

 known to be very fond of young pigeons, it was 

 possible that they might have put his pigeon-cot 

 under a contribution. But he thought otherwise ; 

 and as his head man had seen an animal from time 

 to time near the place, which, by the length and 

 colour, he took to be a weasel, I was led to conclude 

 that, in this case, the Hanoverians were not to 

 blame ; and so the gamekeeper was ordered to set 

 the box-trap with a hen's egg in it, by way of a 

 decoy. A weasel was taken prisoner in due course 

 of time ; and being in great beauty, I transferred 

 it to the Museum, where u remains at present. 



These are heavy charges — heavy enough to put 

 the weasel upon an uneasy footing wi^h the country 

 gentleman and the farmer's wife, were it not that its 

 many good offices rectify the occasional mistakes 

 which it is apt to make in the farm-yard and on the 

 manor, when the ungovernable pressure of its 

 stomach eggs it onto the loss of character, and, 

 perhaps, of life to boot. 



The weasel, like the wood-owl, is a great de- 

 vourer of beetles ; and it is known to make inces- 

 sant war on the mole, the mouse, and the rat — the 

 last two of which draw most extravagantly on the 

 hard-earned profits of the husbandman. These 



