50 COMMON WEESEL. 



driving of these animals out of their holes or burrows. 

 In this operation the Ferret is muzzled, in order to pre- 

 vent it from devouring the rabbits, and has a small bell 

 round its neck, in order that its progress under the ground 

 may be traced. Ferrets are generally kept in casks, or 

 chests, well supplied with hay or straw. Their smell is 

 excessively powerful and unpleasant. They sleep much, 

 and, when they awake, they almost always express a 

 strong desire for food. 



The Ferret is not quite so large as the polecat. Its 

 hair is coarse, and of a dirty pale yellow colour. The 

 tail is about five inches in length ; and the eyes are re- 

 markably red and fiery. 



Common Weesel. Small as the Weesel is, it is daring 

 enough to attack, and has sufficient strength to over- 

 come, both quadrupeds and birds which are considerably 

 larger than itself. The havoc which it sometimes com- 

 mits amongst the rabbits of a warren, is great beyond 

 conception. In one instance there were as many as 

 fourteen couple of young rabbits found in the hole of a 

 Weesel, and as many as eighty field-mice were discovered 

 in that of another. In hen-roosts the Weesel is some- 

 times guilty of great carnage, singling out the pullets 

 and chickens, biting them in the head, to kill them ; 

 and then, one by one, carrying away, carefully, what he 

 has destroyed. He seldom eats his food until it is nearly 

 in a putrid state. He sucks eggs, by biting a small hole 

 at one end, and from thence licking out the contents. 

 During the winter, the habitations of Weesels are gene- 

 rally in granaries, barns, and other out-buildings ; and 

 in summer they take up their abode in thickets and 

 hedge-rows. Their voice, which is never exerted but 

 when in pain, is a rough cry, very expressive of anger. 



