54 MAMMALIA. 



he says, ' or thereabouts, with wonderful regularity, and it is quite 

 unknown what becomes of them. They are not found dead. The 

 failure extends throughout the Hudson's Bay Territory at the same 

 time. And there is no tract or region to which they can migrate 

 where we have not posts, or into which our hunters have not pene- 

 trated. ' 



PUTORIUS VULGARIS (Aidrov.) Griff. 



Least Weasel. 



Having been reared in the rural districts of northeastern New York, 

 I early became acquainted with this interesting little animal, and 'have 

 always watched its habits with a great deal of pleasure. It is the com- 

 monest Weasel in the Adirondack region, and always turns white 

 shortly after the first fall of snow. It inhabits all parts of the Wilder- 

 ness, being found alike along water-courses, in deep swamps, and on 

 rocky ledges and mountain sides. It preys upon mice, moles, shrews, 

 small birds and eggs, and insects chiefly Coleoptera. I have never 

 known it to attack larger mammals or poultry. 



Numbers of mice make their homes under the heaps of brush and 

 rubbish and piles of stones that accumulate along the borders of clear- 

 ings and in neglected pastures. Such places, together with old 

 tumbled-down stone walls and log heaps constitute, therefore, the 

 favorite haunts of the Least Weasel in the semi-civilized districts. 

 It is not wary and will suffer man to approach within a few feet of it 

 before withdrawing from view. It is curious and inquisitive and will 

 soon stick its head out of some hole near by to see what has become 

 of the intruder. Ever on the alert it moves backwards and forwards 

 generally keeping near some object, behind, into, or under which it 

 can disappear at a moment's notice, and is never still for any appre- 

 ciable length of time a fact which can easily be demonstrated by 

 attempting to hit one of them with a rifle ball. 



* Fur-Bearing Animals, 1877, p. 1^4 



