90 THE NATUKAL1ST IN NORWAY. 



when the ermine falls to the ground, and is killed. It 

 is customary to shoot the ermine with blunt arrows, 

 which cannot penetrate, and, therefore, do not injure 

 the skin. It is necessary that the little animal should 

 be struck on the head, and either stunned or slain, so 

 that the fur may not be damaged. It is also captured 

 in various kinds of traps ; but the most simple, and 

 that which is generally adopted in this country, is this : 

 two large flat stones are placed where it is known that 

 ermines have their runs. One stone is propped up 

 over the other by a piece of wood, to which an enticing 

 bait is attached by a string. The ermine seizes the 

 bait, the stick falls, the upper stone drops down on the 

 lower one, and squeezes the poor little creature to 

 death. The skin, of course, remains uninjured. 



The ermine resembles the weasel in appearance, but 

 is rather larger in size. Its food consists of small 

 birds, their eggs, rats, mice, and leverets. In the 

 north, it feeds greedily on the lemming, and the eggs 

 of seafowl. Its colour in summer is rufous-brown on 

 the upper parts, and yellowish-white on the under sur- 

 face of the body ; it becomes white all over in winter, 

 but with a yellow tinge. The tip of the tail is always 

 black. It has wonderful powers of suction, and when 

 it attacks a leveret or a large rat, seizes them by the 

 throat, and sucks their blood. At certain seasons it 

 emits a strong odour of musk. 



Some persons in Norway believe that a draught of 

 ermine' s blood, taken when warm, is a cure for epi- 

 lepsy, as well as for fainting-fits. A draught of the 

 warm blood is also supposed to invigorate an aged 

 person. 



As the ermine, the hare, and the lemming are the 



