I'UTORIUS VULGARIS. 55 



They arc said to be nocturnal in habits, but those tliat I have seen, 

 and their number is not small, all seemed very much at home in 

 broad daylight. I have often surprised them in the woods and fields, 

 and have observed that on such occasions they usually make for some 

 convenient covert and, when within reach of its shelter, immediately 

 turn about to view the stranger, who is now an object of curiosity 

 rather than of alarni. Once, while sitting quietly on the end of an 

 old log, in the woods, I noticed one of these pretty little Weasels 

 coming obliquely toward me, in a series of leisurely leaps, stopping 

 every now and then to look about. Perceiving me he stood bolt up- 

 right, his head bent at right angles to his slender body, and eyed me 

 for a moment without moving a muscle; he then betook himself to 

 the roots of the nearest tree, and under the quasi-protection of this 

 open retreat, commenced a more deliberate survey of my peculiarities. 

 Many times did he advance toward me, and as many back up to the 

 tree again, with his head elevated, and constantly sniffing the air in 

 my direction. He finally gathered sufficient courage to cross over 

 to the log upon which I was sitting, and under the shelter of its 

 shadow scrutinized me still more closely. 



The Least Weasel is so small and slender that it can easily enter 

 the burrows of a large proportion of the animals that constitute its prey. 

 When they take to the open fields and outrun their pursuer, he is 

 not discouraged, but follows their tracks by the scent, like a hound, 

 and overtakes them in their securest retreats; thus are his ill-fated 

 victims attacked in their own homes, and thus are they deprived of any 

 haven to which they may fly to escape from the eager pursuit of this 

 indefatigable and inexorable little beast. 



I have never found the nest of the Weasel, and therefore transcribe 

 the following account of its breeding habits from the pen of Thomas 

 Bell : " The female Weasel brings forth four, or more frequently five 

 young, and is said to have two or three litters in a year. The nest is 

 composed of dry leaves and herbage, and is warm and dry, being 

 usually placed in a hole in a bank, in a dry ditch, or in a hollow tree. 



