CONCERNING WEASELS. 789 



wandering at random about the woods is characteristic of the family, 

 the length of the route depending to a certain extent on the size of 

 the animal. The mink is usually about a week in going his rounds, 

 and may cover a dozen miles in that time, while the otter is generally 

 gone a fortnight or three weeks. When it is possible the ermine pre- 

 fers to follow the course of old tumble-down stone walls, and lays its 

 course accordingly. In favorable districts he is able to keep to these 

 for miles together, squeezing into the smallest crevices in pursuit of 

 mice or chipmunks. All the weasels travel in a similar manner — that 

 is, by a series of leaps or bounds in such a way that the hind feet 

 strike exactly in the prints made by the fore paws, so that the tracks 

 left in the snow are peculiar and bear a strong family resemblance. 

 On soft snow the slender body of the ermine leaves its imprint ex- 

 tending from one pair of footprints to the next, and as these are from 

 four to six feet apart, or even more, the impression left in the snow 

 is like the track of some extremely long and slender serpent with pairs 

 of short legs at intervals along its body. I have said that the ermine 

 is the only true weasel I have found in this vicinity, but this is not 

 strictly true, at least I hope not. One winter I repeatedly noticed 

 the tracks of an exceedingly large weasel — so very large, in fact, that 

 I was almost forced to believe them to be those of a mink. The impres- 

 sion of its body in the snow was quite as large as that made by a small 

 mink, but the footprints themselves were smaller, and the creature 

 appeared to avoid the water in a manner quite at variance with the 

 well-known habits of its more amphibious cousin, while, unlike the 

 common weasel, it never followed stone walls or fences. I put my 

 entire mind to the capture of the little beast, and set dozens of traps, 

 but it was well along in the month of March before I succeeded. It 

 proved to be a typical specimen of the Western long-tailed weasel, 

 though I can find no account of 

 any other having been taken east 

 of the Mississippi. Its entire 

 length was about eighteen inches ; 

 the tail, which was a little over 

 six, gave the effect at first glance 

 of being tipped with gray instead 



of black, but a closer inspection showed that the black hairs were 

 confined to the very extremity and were partly concealed by the 

 overlying white ones; the rest of the fur was white, with a slight 

 reddish tinge, and much longer and coarser than that of an ermine. 

 Since then I have occasionally seen similar tracks, but have 

 not succeeded in capturing a second specimen. In all probabil- 

 ity the least weasel is also to be found here if one has the 

 p.itionce to search carefully enough; none, however, have come under 



