rUTORIUS KRMIN'KA. 



59 



easy but dangerous feasts on domestic fowls. ... I have observed 

 for several years the presence of a number of these Weasels in a 

 grove near a farm-)-ard well stocked with poultry, which the\- never 

 appeared to enter, though repeatedlj' visited b\' minks anil skimks. 

 Indeed, I am inclined to think that, notwithstanding their occasional 

 predator)' inroads, the)' should not l)e killed when living permanently 

 about meadows or cultivated fields, at a distance troni the poultry; 

 for they are not less destructive to man)' ot the farmer's enemies in 

 the fields. Meadow -mice are certainly the greatest pests aniong 

 niammals in northeni Illinois; and of these the Weasel destroys great 

 numbers. I am informed that, u|)on the appearance of a Weasel in 

 the field, the army of mice ot all kinds begins a precipitate retreat. 

 A eentleman of Wisconsin related to me that, while followinor the 

 plough, in spring, he noticed a Weasel with a mouse in its mouth, 

 running past him. It entered a hollow log. He determined to watch 

 further, if possible, the aninial's movements, and presenth' saw it 

 come out again, hunt about the roots of some stumps, dead trees, and 

 log-heaps, and then enter a hole, froni which a mouse ran out. lUit 

 the Weasel had caught one, and carried it to the nest. LI|)on cutting 

 open this log, five young Weasels were found, and the remains oi a 

 large number of mice, doulitless conveyed there as food. . . . 



"Stacks and barnfuls of grain are often overrun with rats and niice; 

 but let a Weasel take up his residence there and soon the ])ests will 

 clisappear. A W^easel will, occasionally, remain for some time in a 

 barn, feeding on these vermin, without disturbing the fowls. But it 

 is never safe to trust one near the poultr)'-)'ard, for, when once an at- 

 tack is made, there is no liiiiit to tht' destruction. When the aninial 

 has entered stacks or barns, it has the curious habit of collectiiig in a 

 particular place the bodies of all the rats and mice it has slain; thus 

 sometimes a pile ot a hundred or more ot their victinis may be seen 

 which have been killed in the course of two or three nii-dits."* 



* The (^iiaih'Lipeds of Illinois injurious and henerici.il lo the Farmt-r. By Robert Ivennicott. 

 Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1S57, Agriculture, 185S, jip. 1114-106. 



