. The gamekeeper at home : sketches of natural history and rural life . yingcolonies may be seen. The rabbit, failing to find a cover, hides in thegrass and dry rushes ; but across the meadow, steal-ing along the furrow, comes the weasel; and, shift hisplace how he may, in the end, worn out and weary,bunny succumbs, and the sharp teeth meet in the neckbehind the ear, severing the vein. Often in the endthe rabbit runs to earth in a hole which is a cul-de-sac^with his back towards the pursuer. The weasel, un-able to get at the poll, which is his desire, will manglethe hinder parts in a terrible
. The gamekeeper at home : sketches of natural history and rural life . yingcolonies may be seen. The rabbit, failing to find a cover, hides in thegrass and dry rushes ; but across the meadow, steal-ing along the furrow, comes the weasel; and, shift hisplace how he may, in the end, worn out and weary,bunny succumbs, and the sharp teeth meet in the neckbehind the ear, severing the vein. Often in the endthe rabbit runs to earth in a hole which is a cul-de-sac^with his back towards the pursuer. The weasel, un-able to get at the poll, which is his desire, will manglethe hinder parts in a terrible manner—as will the civil-ised ferret under similar conditions. Now and then therabbit, scratching and struggling, fills the hole in therear with earth, and so at the last moment chokes offhis assailant and finds safety almost in the death-agony. In the woods, once the rabbit is away fromthe buries, the chase really does resemble a hunt;from furze-bush to bracken, from fern to rough grass,round and round, backwards, doubling to and fro,and all in vain. The Weasel 12. A WEASEL HUNTING. At such times, eager for blood, the weasel will runright across your path, almost close enough to bekicked. Pursue him in turn, and if there be no hedgeor hole near, if you have him in the open, he will darthither and thither right between your legs, uttering asharp short note of anger and alarm, something com-posed of a tiny bark and a scream. He is easily 124 The Gamekeeper at Home killed with a stick when you catch him in the open,for he is by no means swift; but if a hedge be nearit is impossible to secure him. Weasels frequently hunt in couples, and some-times more than two will work together. I once sawfive, and have heard of eight. The five I saw wereworking a sandy bank drilled with holes, from whichthe rabbits in wild alarm were darting in all weasels raced from hole to hole and along thesides of the bank exactly like a pack of hounds, andseemed intensely excited. Their ma
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Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, booksubjectcountrylife, booksubjecthunting
