FEB., 1912. MAMMALS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 369 



delight in killing, and hunger plays but little part in their war of 

 extermination. Probably no other mammal, with the possible excep- 

 tion of man, is so wanton in taking life and habitually destroying, for 

 the mere lust of killing, far more than it can possibly eat. 



Audubon and Bachman inform us that they have known "forty well 

 grown fowls to have been killed in one night by a single Ermine;"* 

 Dr. Merriam states he has lost fifteen doves in a single night killed by 

 one Weasel, and I personally know of several instances where farmers 

 have lost a dozen or more chickens in a night from the depredations of 

 these animals. Where they can secure food with little effort they rarely 

 eat the flesh of their victims; but merely suck the blood and eat the 

 brains of the first few which they kill and the rest of the bodies are left 

 untouched. 



Despite the fact that Weasels are undesirable neighbors in the 

 vicinity of poultry yards, it should be borne in mind that their natural 

 food consists largely of Mice and Rats, and by their destruction of 

 great numbers of these pests they probably save the farmer more than 

 the value of the poultry which they occasionally kill. Robert Kenni- 

 cott, who has given us so much valuable information concerning the 

 habits of our mammals, says: "Fortunately, however, this animal, 

 even when abundant, does not enter the farm-yard so frequently as 

 might be expected, appearing to prefer a free life in the woods to easy 

 but dangerous feasts on domestic fowls. It is generally less apt than 

 the mink to make excursions about the abodes of man. I have observed 

 for several years the presence of a number of these weasels in a grove 

 near a farm-yard well stocked with poultry, which they never appeared 

 to enter, though repeatedly visited by minks and skunks. Indeed, I 

 am inclined to think that, notwithstanding their occasional predatory 

 inroads, they should not be killed when living permanently about 

 meadows or cultivated fields, at a distance from the poultry; for they 

 are not less destructive to many of the farmer's enemies in the fields. 

 Meadow-mice are certainly the greatest pests among mammals of 

 Northern Illinois; and of these the weasel destroys great numbers. I 

 am informed that, upon the appearance of a weasel in the field, the army 

 of mice of all kinds begins a precipitate retreat. A gentleman of 

 Wisconsin related to me that, while following a plough, in spring, he 

 noticed a weasel with a mouse in its mouth, running past him. It 

 entered a hollow log. He determined to watch further, if possible, the 

 animal's movements, and presently saw it come out again, hunt about 

 the roots of some stumps, dead trees, and log-heaps, and then enter a 

 hole, from which a mouse ran out. But the weasel had caught one 



* Quadrupeds of N. Amer., II, 1851, p. 58. 



