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THE RAT. 
My motive for mentioning these circumstances is merely 
to show the habits and disposition of the weasel ; at the 
same time to prove with what ease and security he can 
obtain food without contending with rats, and you may rest 
assured that he has no more liking for punishment than we 
have. At the same time it shows what a destructive 
animal it is, when a little creature like that, which could 
not have been much bigger round than a mouse, was not 
contented till it had taken the life of every bird in the 
cage. The same destructive disposition will be manifested, 
when it can get among a brood of chickens, ducklings, 
partridges, or pheasants, unless disturbed. They hunt either 
day or night, and rest only when tired. Their general food 
is hares, rabbits, leverets, small birds, and mice ; and they 
have no objection to a turn in the hen-roost, if opportunity 
offers, or to ransack a pheasant or partridge's nest that may 
by chance come in their way ; but they will never attack a 
full-grown rat, unless pressed by extreme hunger ; and then 
they have been known to attack not only children but men 
also. 
The truth is, that polecats, stoats, and weasels do very 
little towards destroying rats, as they seldom frequent the 
same localities. Besides, the gamekeeper's special business is 
to preserve the game ; consequently he will kill anything 
and everything that tends to destroy it. He is constantly on 
the watch, and what with dogs, traps and gun, he will never 
let these poachers rest till he has put an end to them ; and 
besides, there have been for ages rewards given by the 
parish officers for their heads, dead or alive. The result is, 
there are, comparatively speaking, very few polecats, stoats, 
or weasels to be met with. 
The marten, better known as the marten-cat, is a very 
beautiful animal, whose skin is much sought after by 
furriers, being considered almost equal to sable. Conse- 
quently the hunters have ever been on the alert for it. 
This, with the gradual reduction of forest lands to a state of 
cultivation, has, in most counties of England, rendered these 
animals almost extinct. 
Like the squirrel, the marten lives mostly in trees ; but, 
instead of nuts, it devours all kinds of birds that come 
within its reach, and seldom comes to ground, except to 
