HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE ERMINE. 133 



in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is solitary in its liabits, as 

 we have seldom seen a pair together except in the rutting season. 

 A family of young, however, are apt to remain in the same 

 locality until autumn. In winter they separate, and we are 

 inclined to think that they do not hunt in couples or in packs 

 like the wolf, but that, like the bat and the mink, each indi- 

 vidual pursues its prey, without copartnership, and hunts for 

 its own benefit." In Massachusetts, according to Allen, it is 

 comparatively common. I myself saw none in Labrador during 

 my summer visit; but it must be quite abundant, to judge from 

 the number of skins I saw in possession of the natives at various 

 places. According to Richardson, " Ermine-skins formed part 

 of the Canada exports in the time of Charlevoix ; but they have 

 so sunk in value, that they are said not to repay the Hudson^s 

 Bay Company the expense of collecting them, and very few are 

 brought to the country from that quarter." Nevertheless, it 

 would appear that the Ermine is much more abundant in British 

 America generally than it is in the United States. Over three- 

 fourths of the large miscellaneous collection of skins we have 

 examined in the preparation of this article came from this coun- 

 try and from Alaska. The writer last mentioned speaks of it 

 as "common", and adds that it often domesticates itself in the 

 houses of the fur traders, where it may be heard the live-long 

 night pursuing the white-footed mouse. Up to a certain limit of 

 latitude it would appear to increase in numbers to the north- 

 ward. The abundance of an Ermine, either the present or suc- 

 ceeding species, on the Missouri is attested by the regalia of 

 ceremony of some of the Indian tribes — picturesque costumes 

 decorated with the tails, in rude imitation of royal fashion. 



Like a majority of thoroughly predacious animals, the Ermine 

 is somewhat nocturnal; that is to say, it is active and success- 

 ful in the dark. Kevertheless, it is too often abroad in the day- 

 time, either in sport or on the chase, to warrant our reckoning- 

 it among the truly nocturnal Carnivores. In the choice and 

 construction of its retreats we see little evidence of burrowing 

 instincts, or, indeed, of any considerable fossorial capacity. It 

 retreats beneath stone heaps, under logs and stumps, in hol- 

 lows of trees, and also in true underground burrows, though 

 these, it should be observed, are usually those made by Rodents 

 or other burrowers whom it has driven off or destroyed. I^ev- 

 ertheless, there is evidence that the animal sometimes digs. 

 Thus Captain Lyon, as rendered by Richardson, states, that he 



