WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



the anger of the sportsman, whose wild poultry, 

 the quails and grouse and woodcock, they kill 

 before he himself can get a chance to do so with 

 his gun. I have known one recently to kill a half- 

 grown house-cat. 



Thus, between their coveting the value of his 

 fur and their vexation at his depredations upon 

 the farm-yard and the game-preserve, most men 

 are at enmity with the weasel and compel him to 

 be on his guard whenever he goes abroad. Yet 

 so secretive and sly is he, so exceedingly alert, 

 quick, and courageous, that he maintains himself 

 in great numbers everywhere outside of towns. 

 Civilization, indeed, has helped rather than hurt 

 him and his tribe. His food does not consist al- 

 together, or perhaps mainly, of birds, but, even 

 if it did, he would be benefited by the human clear- 

 ing and cultivation of the wilderness, because 

 these bring about a multiplication of the total 

 number of birds in a locality, in spite of the fact 

 that a few species are lessened or extinguished. 



But man's operations also tend to increase the 

 total of small mammals, such as rabbits, gophers, 

 squirrels, and mice, upon all of which the weasel 

 preys with avidity, and none of which can wholly 

 escape him, for he can race the swiftest of them 



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