Long-tailed Weasel 



867 



A pair of Long-tailed Weasels to every square mile of popula- 

 prairie would, I think, represent the utmost number of this ^^°^ 

 species. This is, however, a mere guess, founded on the 

 number of Weasel tracks in the snow. Settlement seems to 



have done nothing towards thin- 

 ning their ranks. They are, 

 I think, as numerous now as 

 ever. 



In sociability, means of in- socia- 

 bility 

 tercommunication, matmg, 



breeding, etc., the Long-tailed 

 Weasel appears much like the 

 smaller Brown-weasel, but 

 there are very few facts at 

 hand for help in comprehend- 

 ing its ways of life. 



Some interesting observa- habits 

 tions, which probably refer to 

 the present species, are con- 

 tributed by Dr. G. B. Grinnell: 

 "In certain portions of the 

 West the Common Weasel, or 

 Ermine, frequently takes up its 

 abode in the villages of the 

 Ground-squirrels, which are 

 such a pest, and preys on the 

 young and perhaps the adult Squirrels. If, for any reason, 

 the Squirrels desert their villages and move onward — as they 

 frequently do through lack of food — the Weasels are likely to 

 migrate with them. 



"This year the Ground-squirrels have been a pest on the 

 Blackfoot Reservation, in western Montana, and have de- 

 voured many of the gardens, root and branch. There seems 

 to be no efficient way of destroying them, though, by means 

 of the trap and a small rifle, my friend, J. B. Monroe, 



Fig. 208 — Skulls of Long-tailed Weasel. 

 Uppermost, side view of adult (^ skull. 

 Middle, lop view of adult ^ skull from Carlton House, 



Sask. 

 Lowest, top view of adult ^ skull from Carlton House, 



Sask. 

 (Cuts from Merriam's Synopsis of Weasels. N. A. Fauna. 



No. II. 1S96, p. 20. and Plate 111. Supplied by Biolo^M- 



cal Survey, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.) 



