HaJbits of the Weasel 337 



rately has rejected * all conciliation. I am forced into the 

 contest, an unwilling defendant. And if my language exceeds 

 the bounds of moderation, it expresses but the natural aver- 

 sion with which every honourable mind recoils from what is 

 mean and sordid, from what is selfish and malignant. To 

 this man, as a fellow-labourer in science, I held out the right 

 hand of friendship ; to this man, as one whom I fancied to 

 have been deceived, and to have required explanation only in 

 order to be induced to retrace his false steps, I held out the 

 olive branch of conciliation. He has spurned both ; he has 

 derided both; he has heaped injury upon me in exchange for 

 kindness ; he has loaded me with insult in return for forbear- 

 ance. On the head of the aggressor let the odium rest ! 



I am, my dear Sir, faithfully yours, &c. 

 Chester Terrace^ Regent* s Park, N. A. Vigors. 



June 20. 1831. 



Art. VII. On the Habits of the Weasel, By 5c6lopax Rusticola. 



Sir, 



It gives me sincere pleasure to find my observation 

 on the missel thrush (Turdus viscivorus) corroborated by 

 that very attentive observer the Rev. W. T. Bree : as, at the 

 time I advanced it, I felt confident that many would be 

 sceptical, especially those who contend that it has no melody. 

 I shall now advert to a little animal, the weasel, concerning 

 which I am in possession of two or three anecdotes. 



The Rev. Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Sel- 

 borne, states, in Letter 40., that " weasels prey on moles, 

 as appears by their being sometimes caught in mole-traps." 

 I believe that people in general are not aware of the fact ; but 

 the following will bear it out : — 



A neighbour of mine, a man of acute observation, who had 

 set a common spring mole-trap in a field which he occupied, 

 having occasion to go to it to stop a gap in the hedge, per- 

 ceived that a mole was taken. He took the trap from the 

 ground, and allowed the mole to remain suspended in it. In 

 about a quarter of an hour, whilst working, he chanced to 

 look in the direction of the trap, and, much to his surprise, 

 perceived a weasel very actively engaged in striving to get the 

 mole out of the wires which held it. The animal ran up 

 the stick which formed the spring of the trap, and then 



* The whole of the answers and explanations which are made in this 

 letter were laid before Mr. Swainson. Nothing, in fact, was left undone 

 on my part to avoid this distressing exposure. 



Vol. IV. — No. 20. z 



