THE STORY OF THE WEASEL . 
455 
trying circumstances is well shown in the following anecdote: While riding 
through a field one day I saw at a short distance a kite pounce on some 
object on the ground, and rise with it in his talons. In a few moments, how¬ 
ever, the kite began to show signs of great uneasiness, rising rapidly in the 
air, or as quickly falling, and wheeling irregularly round, whilst it was 
evidently endeavoring to force some obnoxious thing from it with its feet. 
THE WEASEL AND ITS PREY. 
After a sharp but short contest, the kite fell suddenly to the earth, not far 
from where I was intently watching the manoeuvre. I instantly rode up to 
the spot, when a weasel ran away from the kite, apparently unhurt, leaving 
the bird dead, with a hole eaten through the skin under the wing, and the 
large blood-vessels of the part cut through. 
