THE WEASEL 85 



I must give one more instance of the boldness 

 and ferocity of the weasel. A woman in north- 

 ern Vermont discovered that something was kill- 

 ing her hens, often on the nest. She watched 

 for the culprit, and at last caught a weasel in 

 the act. It had seized the hen, and refused to 

 let go when she tried to scare it away. Then 

 the woman laid hold of it and tried choking it, 

 when the weasel released its hold upon the hen 

 and fastened its teeth into her hand between the 

 thumb and forefinger. She could not choke it 

 off, and ran to a neighbor for help, but no one 

 could remove it without tearing the flesh from 

 the woman's hand. Then some one suggested a 

 pail of water ; into this the hand and weasel were 

 plunged, but the creature would not let go even 

 then, and did not until it was drowned. 



The weasel is a subtle and destructive enemy of 

 the birds. It climbs trees and explores them with 

 great ease and nimbleness. I have seen it do so 

 on several occasions. One day my attention was 

 arrested by the angry notes of a pair of brown 

 thrashers that were flitting from bush to bush 

 along an old stone wall in a remote field. Pre- 

 sently I saw what it was that excited them, 

 three large red weasels, or ermines, coming along 

 the stone wall, and leisurely and half playfully 

 exploring every tree that stood near it. They 



