HABITS OF THE FITCHET WEASEL. 35 



I have read the discussion carried on on this subject by Mr. Waterton, in 

 Loudon's Magazine of Natural History; I was always of opinion that Mr. 

 Waterton was right, and I am now confirmed in that opinion. Certainly, in 

 the case in question, the Crows must have been directed to their food by the sense 

 of smell alone, no part of the carcass being visible to the sight. The conclusion 

 is obvious. — Q. E. D. 

 Jan. 1, 1837. 



HABITS OF THE FITCHET WEASEL (Mustela putorius, Linn.) 



The habits of few of our native animals are less known than those of the 

 Fitchet Weasel. The shy dispositions and secluded residences of the Weasel 

 family generally render it difficult to observe minutely on their manners and 

 characters ; whilst, also, by many of those persons whose situations give them 

 opportunities of making observations upon them, they are looked upon as 

 enemies, and persecuted " to the death." The farmer may sometimes permit 

 the little red Weasel to find a home in the stack-yard or barn, from the 

 enmity it bears to the Rat; yet, should his dame have a poultry-yard, the 

 tenure of the Weasel will be, at best, but insecure. That foe to all vermin, the 

 gamekeeper, pursues the race with unmitigating vengeance, and mankind 

 generally look upon them as ugly and loathsome. 



With the naturalist, however, they are a more favoured race ; and to him 

 the Weasel, as it gambols and skips before him, bending its limber body into 

 many a graceful curve, cannot but be a pleasing and interesting object. 



The Fitchet is the largest and most ferocious of this family. It is very 

 seldom seen during the day, keeping then closely to its den. Sometimes, 

 however, it may be found in a shallow hole basking in the sun, and I remember 

 once disturbing one that had taken up its abode amongst some newly-cut 

 grass ; but yet they are rarely found to expose themselves so much during 

 daylight. 



The time when this animal pursues its labours and its recreations is in 

 the silent hour of night ; then it is abroad, and the ground over which it will 

 travel in the course often or twelve hours, shows that it is not a loiterer. Six r 

 seven, or eight miles are not uncommon distances for it to traverse in its 

 nightly perambulations ; and I have sometimes known them go still more. 

 When it is the resident of a Rabbit-warren, it may, perhaps, not wander so far 

 from home. 



In the spring of the year I have found that they stray to the greatest dis- 

 tances, probably on account of the sexual propensity being then most active. 

 A person informs me he once followed one-for upwards of ten miles, not in- 



