CONCERNING WEASELS. 



787 



denly I found myself staring at the smooth greenish-gray root of 

 the maple with 110 weasel in sight. Judging from my own experi- 

 ence, I should say that this is the usual termination of any chance 

 observations of either weasels or minks. 



Occasionally they may be seen to dart into the bushes or behind 

 some log or projecting bank, but much more frequently they vanish 

 with a suddenness that defies the keenest eyesight. 



In all probability this vanishing is accomplished by extreme rapid- 

 ity of motion, but if this is the case then the creature succeeds in doing 

 something utterly impossible to any other warm-blooded animal of 

 its size. Mice, squirrels, and some of the smaller birds are all of them 

 swift enough at times, but except in the case of the humming bird 

 none of them, I believe, succeed in accomplishing the result achieved 

 by the weasels. The humming bird, in spite of its small size, leaves 

 us a pretty definite impression of the direction it has taken when it 

 darts awav: but when a 

 mink, half a yard in length 



and weighing several ^j, ^ 



pounds, stands motionless 



before one with his dark ^^^ 1 : v $fe '&$ 



coat conspicuous against al- 

 most any background, and 

 the next instant is gone 

 without a rustle or the 

 tremor of a blade of grass, it 

 leaves one with an impression of witchcraft difficult to dispel, and 

 best appreciated when one sees it for one's self. Nor is the everyday 

 life of the weasel quiet or commonplace; his one object in life appar- 

 ently is to kill, first to appease his hunger, then to satisfy his thirst for 

 warm blood, and after that for the mere joy of killing. 



The few opportunities I have had for observing these animals 

 have never shown them occupied in any other way, nor can any hint 

 of anything different be gained from the various writers on the sub- 

 ject, while accounts of their attacking and even killing human be- 

 ings in a kind of blind fury are too numerous and apparently well 

 authenticated to be entirely ignored. These attacks are said usually 

 to be made by a number of weasels acting in concert, and the motive 

 would appear to be revenge for some injury done to one of their num- 

 ber. There seems to be something peculiar about the entire family 

 of weasels. The American sable or pine marten is said to have strange 

 ways that have puzzled naturalists and hunters for years. In the 

 wilderness no amount of trapping has any effect on their numbers, 

 nor do they show any especial fear of man or his works, occasionally 

 even coming into lumber camps at night and being especially fond of 



