1887-88.] Stoats and Weasels. 173 



to a cottage some distance off and borrowed a spade. Com- 

 mencing to dig, I was not long in unearthing the vermin, and 

 was fortunate enough to crush it with the spade when trying 

 to make its exit. Examining it, I discovered that it was a 

 female, and that she had been nursing. Excavating a little 

 farther, I came upon the nest, which contained seven small, 

 blind, slate-coloured creatures, apparently a few days old. I 

 have stated that the creatures were blind, and it is perhaps 

 worthy of note that the period of gestation in the weasel tribe 

 is six weeks, and that the young ones are six weeks old before 

 their eyes are opened. It is no unusual thing to see young 

 ferrets out of their nest tearing away at a rabbit or other food 

 before they can see. Why the young of the weasel tribe 

 should be so long blind is difficult of explanation. I am not 

 aware of the young of any other animal having their eyes so 

 long closed. Kats are also born blind, but in fourteen days 

 begin to open their eyes, and, as every schoolboy knows, this 

 is longer than most animals. 



Another peculiarity of the weasel tribe is a gland under 

 the tail, in which is secreted a strong and offensive odour, 

 which the animal emits at will when attacked by an enemy, 

 or when fighting with each other. If one should be shot 

 dead, or killed instantaneously by a trap, it has no smell 

 whatever ; but if trapped by the leg, or wounded by a gun- 

 shot, the strong effluvium is most disagreeable, and any person 

 who handles it has a difficulty in getting rid of the smell 

 Mr St John, in his admirable book, states that the smell can 

 never be got rid of, and that this renders the skins of stoats 

 useless. This I cannot accept ; and the fact of their skins, 

 in the form of ermine fur, being so valuable, and worn not 

 only by ladies of rank and by the Judges of the Court of 

 Session, but even by royalty, thoroughly explodes this fallacy. 

 In Norway and Siberia their skins make a valuable article 

 of commerce ; and it is a notable fact that those killed in 

 this country are much inferior, having neither the tliickness 

 of fur nor the beautiful whiteness of those killed in Northern 

 regions. 



