I. M. (in the "Magazine of Natural History") says that the Stoat
is more timid than the weasel, and that it does not change its
colour as in the more northern parts of the world. I know not why
he calls it timid, even relatively, as I think it is the most
fearless wild animal we have in the kingdom, in proof of which I
will mention an incident I witnessed myself. I one day saw a Stoat
carrying off a large rat it had killed, and I immediately pursued
it, but it stuck so tenaciously to its prey (although it was so
encumbered with its load as to be scarcely able to run at all)
that I was close upon it before it would abandon it; however, it
then took refuge in a wall that happened to be close by. I took up
the rat, and the Stoat put its head out of the wall, spitting and
chattering with every appearance of the most lively indignation
against me for having so unjustly robbed it of a lawful prize. I
amused myself with watching it for some time, and then being
desirous of seeing how far its evident desire to recapture its
booty would overcome its fear of me, I held the rat just before
the hole in which it was, when after several attempts, in which
its discretion got the better of its valour, it at length screwed
up its courage to the sticking-place, came boldly out of the wall,
and dragged it out of my hand into the hole.
I know not in what county I. M. lives, nor do I know whether he
means to include any part of England in the more northern parts of
the world, but I do know that the Stoat is white in the winter in
Yorkshire, as I have caught and still more frequently seen
specimens of this colour.
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