MAMMALS. 6l 



ditch, when, after running a few yards through the 

 grass, the Weasel ran up on the road and sat up on its 

 haunches like a dog " begging " and steadfastly regarded 

 its pursuer ! The effect was most ludicrous. The energy 

 and restless activity displayed by the Weasel are pro- 

 verbial. Mr. F. Rawdon Smith writes : " When in a 

 strange piece of country of which it did not know 

 " the lie " I have several times noticed the W^easel 

 spring off the ground in order to obtain a better view, 

 and do so repeatedly till certain of the direction it 

 should take." There are instances on record of its having 

 got the better of even a large Hawk that had carried it off 

 by clinging to and biting its neck till the bird had to 

 descend owing to loss of blood. The young are produced 

 in a hole in a hedge-bank or similar place, and the litter 

 usually numbers five or six. Total length of male, 

 nearly twelve inches, but the female is much smaller 

 and varies so greatly in size that old writers believed 

 that there were two species, the smaller one being only 

 half the size of the other, The tail of the Weasel is 

 proportionately shorter than in the Stoat, while the neck 

 is longer and more slender. In Shropshire the Weasel 

 is common everywhere, but not so numerous as the 

 Stoat. 



BADGER. This is one of the largest of our native animals. 



Meks taxus. It used to be called the " Brock," and 



the word is found in many Shropshire 

 place-names, such as Brockton, Brockholes, and Brock- 

 hurst. The Badger is of such a sly and retiring dis- 

 position and so nocturnal in its habits that it is rarely 

 seen in the districts where it resides, and thus it is 

 generally regarded as a rare animal and decreasing in 



