MAMMALS 



dispute, even with man, the possession of any 

 animal he may have killed. See the Zoologist 

 of 1890, p. 380, where some very curious 

 experiences with this animal are described. 



17. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. 

 Bell — Mustek vulgaris. 

 Locally, Whitethroat (male) ; Mousehunt or 

 Mousehunter (female). 

 Like the stoat, this useful and elegant little 

 animal is systematically destroyed by game- 

 keepers,and its numbers have been sadly reduced. 

 In some parts of the county it has become the 

 rarer animal of the two ; and in places where not 

 bng ago it was fairly common, one may now 

 keep a sharp look-out for a year or more with- 

 out seeing a single individual ; besides which 

 the old rough banks and wide bushy hedges 

 which formerly provided it with both shelter 

 and productive hunting groimds have disap- 

 peared. From its diminutive size and flexible 

 snake-like form, the weasel can follow a mouse 

 into its hole, or thread its way among the 

 sheaves in a wheat stack with the greatest 

 ease ; and with the exception perhaps of the 

 barn owl is the most valuable and efficient 

 mouser we possess. Its value in keeping down 

 mice, voles, and even rats and moles is well 

 known and appreciated by many farmers, who 

 would feign protect and encourage it if 

 possible. Repeated observations have shown 

 that while such prey is to be had, the weasel 

 does very little harm among game or young 

 cHickens ; certainly far less that the rats it 

 helps to keep down.' A curious habit of this 

 little animal came under the notice of Mr. A. 

 M. Rope of Leiston. Driving over Westle- 

 ton ' Walks,' he noticed on a bare sandy spot 

 of ground a strange-looking object moving along 

 in a peculiar undulating manner. It was 

 some 2 feet in length and very narrow ; and 

 he at first took it for a snake. A nearer 

 approach showed it to be a female weasel, 

 with a litter of young ones following close 

 behind her in single file. The dam carried 

 her head and neck high above the ground. 

 When she saw that she was observed, she 

 took one of the cubs in her mouth and bore it 

 oflF to some place of safety, returning very soon 

 Jbr another, which she served the same ; and 

 there is little doubt that had she been watched 

 longer she would not have rested until every 

 one of the cubs had been removed and placed 

 out of danger. A family of young weasels 

 following closely behind their mother in one 

 long unbroken line has also been noticed near 

 Orford. A weasel was once seen by the 



^ See Zoologist, 1894., p. 422, twelve lines from 

 bottom. 



writer swimming across the river Aide, not 

 far from Langham bridge, and carrying in its 

 mouth a young one, almost if not quite as 

 large as itself. Not one of our few remain- 

 ing wild animals is more graceful and agile in 

 all its movements or more entertaining to 

 watch than the weasel. It is a great pity 

 that in the war of extermination waged 

 against so many of our interesting native 

 animals, this useful and beautiful little creature 

 at least should not be spared. 



18. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. 

 Bell — Meles taxus. 

 Except as an occasional wanderer from a 

 distance the badger can no longer, I fear, be 

 included in a list of Suffolk mammals. From 

 time to time however a specimen still turns 

 up here and there. A few may have been 

 introduced for the purpose of making earths 

 for foxes, while some of the more recent ex- 

 amples may possibly have escaped from con- 

 finement, and perhaps in rare instances have 

 bred in the county. Formerly however they 

 must have been common in many parts of 

 Suffolk. At the time the Messrs. Paget 

 wrote (1834) these animals had already been 

 exterminated in the Yarmouth district, though 

 stated by them to have been common thirty 

 years earlier, especially about Bradwell and 

 Browston. In some parts of the county 

 badgers appear to have lingered till nearly 

 half a century later. In the winter of 1 846-7 

 one was killed at Cavenham, and another 

 supposed at the time to exist in that neigh- 

 bourhood, as recorded by Professor A. Newton 

 {Zool. 1849, p. 2379). Mr. F. S. Griffiths 

 of Dedham, in a communication to the East 

 Anglian Miscellany of 9 March 1 90 1, writes 

 as follows : ' Some fifteen or sixteen years ago 

 a fine female badger was taken alive — not 

 shot — by Mr. Robert Partridge of Stratford 

 St. Mary, while cutting grass. It was after- 

 wards sold, I think, to Mr. H. N. Dunnett, 

 but soon died. Dissection proved it to con- 

 tain, I think, three young ones. It was sup- 

 posed to have been an escaped specimen ; but 

 I have heard from two very old inhabitants 

 of Stratford St. Mary . . . that in their youth 

 they frequently undertook to dig badgers out 

 in the Commons and Bush Hills, two pre- 

 served woods near the meadows spoken of.' 

 About Ubbeston there were a few badgers 

 during the first quarter of the last century, 

 Ubbeston Wood being then unpreserved. 

 Mr. S. Levett, in the East Anglian Miscellany 

 of 9 March 1901, states that he has seen one 

 which had been caught on the Stratton Hall 

 estate in 1852; and that another has since 



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