118 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



tinge. A patch under the chin is pure white. The shape 

 of the head is triangular and the whiskers are long, biac.i 

 and prominent. 



It is nocturnal in its hunting habits and preys on native 

 and introduced mice and rats, young rabbits, birds, grass- 

 hoppers, snails, beetles and other insects, and has been 

 found preying on chicken houses in two parts of its rang? 

 in Louisiana. 



On its hunts the weasel darts here and there, with the 

 nimbleness of a squirrel and its elongated body, which is 

 almost snake-like in its twisting and turning, reminds one 

 of a powerful but graceful assemblage of muscle. Cou- 

 rageous to a high degree, it will not hesitate to attack ani- 

 mals twice its size and it will take its prey in a shrub, a 

 tree, on the ground or in the water. 



Keen of scent, it tracks down its prey in open chase and 

 its lithe and slender body stands it in good stead when it 

 makes its fatal leap and severs the backbone at the neck 

 with one crunch of its sharp teeth or gnashes a jugular vein 

 and satisfies its lust with the blood of its victim. 



Devoted to her young, the female weasel of the north is 

 said to bear from four to six in a litter. Although we do 

 not yet know the breeding habits of the Louisiana weasel, 

 it is safe to presume that this may be the average here. 

 The young are born in either a den, in a log, or in a pile of 

 leaves and the mother can be counted on to defend her little 

 ones courageously, and when angered, the characteristic 

 penetrating and disagreeable odor, common to the members 

 of the family to which it belongs, can be quickly detected. 



