CARNIVORA. MUSTELID^. 45 



Observations. There is some doubt in relation to the identity 

 of the European and American Weasel. The tail of the Amer- 

 ican is evidently shorter than that of the European. In other 

 respects there is a great similarity. It is not so common as the 

 following species, at least in the western part of the State. There 

 is no occasion for mistaking this species for its congener, com- 

 monly called the White Weasel, as the latter is always larger, 

 and has a longer tail, which is always terminated with a black 

 pencil of hairs, whereas, in the former, it is always short, and of 

 a uniform color. It feeds upon mice, moles, eggs, chickens, &c. 

 The smallness of the animal fits it better for pursuing mice than 

 larger animals, and hence it may be of great service in barns, and 

 hay and grain ricks, in the destruction of vermin ; and hence, too, 

 it should be protected, even if it should occasionally take an egg 

 or a chicken for a change of diet. 



3. Putorius Noveboracensis. De Kay. The Ermine Weasel. 



Mustela erminea, Lin. Gmel. Harlan, Fauna Am., p. 62. 

 Stoat Weasel, Penn., Arct. Zool., i. j). 75. 



Mustela (Putorius) eruiinea, Richardson, Fauna IJor. Am., p. 46. 

 The Ermine Weasel, Godinan, Nat. Hist., i. p. 193. 

 Figure; Ibid., p. 213, f. 2. 



Specific characters. Reddish-brown above, white beneath ; in 

 winter wholly while ; slightly tinged with yellow, except the ex- 

 tremity of the tail, which is always black. 



Description. The neck, body, and tail long and cylindrical ; 

 nose slightly convex ; legs short and stout ; ears low, rounded, or 

 but slightly pointed, wide at base, standing obliquely to the axis 

 of the head ; eyes black, large, and full of animation ; mystachial 

 bristles of two kinds ; the coarsest, brown at base, and whitish 

 at the extremities, intermixed with a few entirely white ; the 

 shortest and finest all white ; feet five-toed, the inner one shortest ; 

 in the winter covered with glossy hair, concealing the five small 

 terminal tubercles ; soles nearly covered with hair ; some indi- 

 viduals are more yellow than others on the posterior parts. 



