THE STOAT 
In character the Stoat is the embodiment of agility and strength, 
and will often run down and kill animals as large as a hare, while 
rabbits and smaller mammals, game-birds and fowls, are also preyed on. 
It seems strange that such swift-footed creatures as the hare and rabbit 
should be unable to escape the attack of the Stoat, who kills by biting 
through the arteries of the neck, yet when tracked by their enemy they 
soon lose their nerve and lying down are easily mastered. Their des- 
pairing cries at such times are pitiful to hear. 
What is still more strange is the courage spmetimes displayed by a 
doe rabbit when her young are molested, when she will boldly charge 
and put to flight the aggressor. Mr. Millais gives an instance of this, 
and I have myself witnessed a somewhat similar incident on the moors 
near Pitlochry, when I observed a rabbit persistently chasing a Stoat, 
which kept dodging among the heather in his efforts to escape. 
The Stoat is naturally frolicsome, skipping about and playing for his 
own amusement, though he also makes use of these playftil gambols to 
get within reach of some unsuspecting animal, whose sense of danger is 
lulled by his curious antics. 
The Stoat is a bold and strong swimmer, and is known to be able 
to catch eels. 
By watching his tracks in snow, sometimes in the open, or winding 
about hedgerows in and out of the rabbit holes, one can gain some 
notion of the Stoat's method of hunting and the long distances he will 
travel in pursuit of his quarry. 
The young, usually about five or more in number, are born in a nest 
made in some cavity in a stone wall or bank, within a hollow tree, or 
sometimes in a deserted bird's nest. 
In the background of Plate 21 is shown a figure of the Irish 
Stoat, the 'Putorius hibernicus of Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Major 
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