early in the seventeenth century, for the ‘ Shetland Times ’ 1
title-o: headed ‘ Animals of the County of Welland,’ in
(dated 1615).- demands that every Bat!He, IV
th 1 lead Court the first Tuesday in Aug;
Imvvfc) craw corbie and earne.’ At the pre
the mainland from Dunrossness in the sm
north, where I saw one in August
Scalloway and Mossbank, but keeps clos<-
of the year, only roving on the moors abi
on the island of Colsay, and till recently
It does not oçcur on Unst or Yell.
In Ireland and the Isle of M
place of P . ermineus, and is describee
H abits.—Stoats like to frequei;
bordering on cultivation. Here they
or rabbit-hole, and range the whole
especially fond of roadsides, where it
furze, on the edges of which they car
are. great wanderers2 and fcu'àffçrs, a;
high situations as the summit o f P
then rush upon it, seizing fhc: throat 1
or rat, and have a cons;-•,,v, :>ty turn <
The food of the S i >> '^pusts o
poultry down to the small P . i;-ngs of
Mammals from hares and si to the
spent fish that come to the of pon
[inister and Gentleman was to present to
1st the head of ‘ quhitred (Whittret, i.e.
■ cfst day it is irregularly dispersed over
iuth to the point of pelt h&fand in the
m . It is also - fairly a s f f iew s about
ijs. the nesting season. It 1* still found
m Whalsey, but is now estmd there.
Y/i-uTiis ermineus hibernicus takes the
mt walls, thickets, and rough places
v- their home in some hedge-bank, wall,
:;obdurhood for their prey. They are
■ oios, and rats abound, and thickets of
prise young rabbits and birds. Stoats
.n consequently make a living in such
evis, where mice and young game-birds
aids of Scotland, where mice, rats, and
Stoats hunt tirelessly, following their
wne rabbit, like the large carnivores, and
a point at the back of the ear of an
themselves, holding on and biting at the
into every crevice that may hide a mouse
’ speed in overtaking these animals, when
birds as large as turkeys and domestic
my species that may come in its way, and
smallest mice. Doubtless it catches a few
Is and rivers. An instance is recorded in