WEASEL FAMILY 



123 



NEW YORK WEASEL 

 Mustela noveboracensis (Emmons) 



General Description. — See Arctic Weasel. One of 

 the larger Weasels of the United States. Dark in color, 

 in summer, and with a long tail, usually one-third 

 entire length. Black tips. 



Dental Formula. — Same as Arctic Weasel. 



Pelage. — Suiuiiicr, dull brown on upper side grad- 

 ually shading into white on under side. 11' i)itcr, pure 

 white except tip of tail. 



Measurements.— Male larger than female ; length 

 usually 16 to 18 inches for male, and 12 or 13 inches for 

 female. 



Range. — Eastern United States from Maine to 

 Illinois. 



Food. — Small mammals, birds, grasshoppers, and 

 any other living flesh that it can secure. No vegetable 

 matter. 



One of the best known Weasels, because liv- 

 ing near home to many Eastern people, is the 

 New York Weasel. Its habits resemble other 

 related species, one of its nearest relatives being 

 the Mountain \\'easel of the \\'est. The New 

 York Weasel is to be found from Maine to the 

 Mississippi River. It is one of the larger types, 

 being about sixteen inches long. It is dull brown 

 in color above, and white below, changing to 

 white in winter, except for the final one-third 

 of the tail, which remains black. 



Despite its destructive habits, this Weasel is 

 rather a benefactor than an enemy to the farmer, 

 ridding his granaries and fields of many prowl- 

 ers. A mission appears to have been assigned 

 to it by Providence to lessen the rapidly multi- 

 plying number of mice and the small rodentia. 

 Wherever the Weasel appears, the mice for half 

 a mile around rapidly diminish in number. Their 

 enemy is able to force its thin vermiform body 

 into the burrows, it follows them to the end of 

 their granaries, and destroys whole families. 



Dr. Coues thus observes : " We once placed 

 a half-domesticated ^^'easel in an outhouse in- 

 fested with Rats, shutting up the holes on the 

 outside to prevent their escape. The animal 

 soon commenced his work of destruction. The 

 squeaking of the Rats was heard through the day. 

 In the evening, it came out licking its mouth, 

 and seemed like a hound after a long chase, 

 much fatigued. A board of the floor was raised 

 to enable us to ascertain the result of otir ex- 

 I)eriment, and an immense number of Rats were 

 observed, which, although they had been killed 

 in different parts of the building, had been drag- 

 ged together, forming a compact heap." 



A better character, however, is given by a 

 recent observer, Mr. S. A. Lottridge, who says: 

 " I do not believe that the normal Weasel is as 

 bloodthirsty as many would lead us to think, but 

 rather his physical condition must answer for 

 his superfluous killing. My experiments with 



W^easels extended over a period of several years. 

 Under an old barn I had a Weasel house which 

 was made mouse tight, a ground space ten by 

 fifteen feet. Connecting with this by means of 

 small doors were two other smaller compart- 

 ments, also mouse tight. The hotise was fitted 

 up as an ideal place for a Weasel's home : there 

 were hollow logs, a stone pile, and plenty of dry 

 leaves and moss. The experiments were tried 

 at nightfall, as results were more quickly ob- 

 tained, since the Weasel is largely nocturnal. 



" In one of the experiments there were placed 

 in one of the compartments an old rabbit and 

 four small ones, and in the other compartment 

 three chickens. Late in the evening the com- 

 partments were examined and not a rabbit 

 or a chicken was found alive, and the remains 

 had been left just where the victims had fallen. 

 No attempt was made by this Weasel to hide 

 the bodies for future use. The Rabbits were 

 killed by a single bite, except the old one, which 

 was bitten twice in the neck. The brains of two 

 of the young rabbits were eaten. At another 

 time, another Weasel killed six young rabbits 

 and six chickens in a single night. 



" In experimenting with several other Weasels 

 the number of animals killed was large, e.xcept 

 in two instances which I will cite later, but there 

 was a marked difference in the ntimber of brains 

 consumed and the amount of flesh eaten. By 

 regulating the food supply I found that the first 

 choice was blood, next the brains, and then the 

 flesh. Why this is the order I will attempt to 

 demonstrate. By accident I discovered in the 

 stomach of a Weasel a large parasite. As this 

 was noted several times in other ^\^easels, it oc- 

 curred to me that perhaps the parasite was the 

 cause of such an abnormal ferocity and love for 

 blood. I accordingly set about a definite investi- • 

 gation, with the result that out of twelve Weasels 

 examined, I found but two without the parasites. 



