Short-tailed Weasel 851 



traced the footsteps of this blood-sucking little animal on the 

 snow, pursuing the trail of the American Rabbit, and although 

 it could not overtake its prey by superior speed, yet the timid 

 Hare soon took refuge in the hollow of a tree, or in a hole dug 

 by the Marmot or Skunk. Thither it was pursued by the 

 Ermine and destroyed, the skin and other remains at the mouth 

 of the burrow bearing evidence of the fact." 



Kennicott records" that "in a single night and the early 

 part of the following evening one of these killed nearly 50 

 chickens, several of which were adults, and many half grown." 



"Wherever the Ermine has taken up its residence," says 

 Bachman,'" "the Mice in its vicinity for half a mile around 

 have been found rapidly to diminish in number. Their active 

 little enemy is able to force its thin vermiform body into the 

 burrows, it follows them to the end of their galleries, and de- 

 stroys whole families. We have on several occasions, after 

 a light snow, followed the trail of this Weasel through the fields 

 and meadows, and witnessed the immense destruction which 

 it occasioned in a single night. It enters every hole under 

 stumps, logs, stone heaps, and fences, and evidences of its bloody 

 deeds are seen in the mutilated remains of the Mice scattered 

 on the snow. The little Chipping or Ground-squirrel, 

 Tamias lysteri, takes up its residence in the vicinity of the grain 

 fields, and is known to carry off^ in its cheek pouches vast quan- 

 tities of wheat and buckwheat to serve as winter stores. The 

 Ermine instinctively discovers these snug retreats, and in the 

 space of a few minutes destroys a whole family of these beauti- 

 ful little Tamice; without even resting awhile until it has con- 

 sumed its now abundant food, its appetite craving for more 

 blood as if impelled by an irresistible destiny, it proceeds in 

 search of other objects on which it may glut its insatiable 

 vampire-like thirst. The Norway Rat and the Common House- 

 mouse take possession of our barns, wheat stacks and granaries, 

 and destroy vast quantities of grain. In some instances the 

 farmer is reluctantly compelled to pay even more than a 

 tithe in contributions towards the support of these pests. Let, 



• Quad. 111., 1859, p. 244. ■» Quad. N. A., 1849, Vol. II, pp. 59-60. 



