IMS 



MUSTELID.E. 



MUSTELIDJ5. 



1006 



usual mode of attack when it reaches its prey shows that small quad- 

 rupeds and birds form ita staple. It inflicts a bite on the head which 

 pierces the brain, and seldom fails to lay the victim dead at its feet by 

 a single stroke. But there can be no doubt that it is a destroyer of 

 newly-hatched gallinaceous and game-birds and young ducks, as well 

 as the smaller feathered tribes ; and that, although it does good ser- 

 vice in keeping down the mice, it is a bad neighbour to the hare and 

 rabbit warren. Not that the Weasel will do one-third of the mischief 

 that a Stoat will, nor upon animals of such large growth, but it will 

 do enough. It is a most active and persevering hunter; few trees 

 will stop it when in search of birds' -nests, which it robs not only by 

 Bucking the eggs, but by carrying off the young. It will hunt the 

 mole, the field-mouse, and other small quadrupeds in their usual 

 haunts, not only by the eye but also by the scent, like a Stoat ; and 

 most amusing it is to see one of these flexible agile little creatures 

 tracing up the scent when it is at fault. They will quarter the ground 

 like a dog till they bit it off, and, to lose no help from their eye, will 

 occasionally sit up, raising themselves on their hind quarters to gain 

 a more extended view around them. Their perseverance will tire 

 down animals larger and stronger than themselves; nor will water 

 stop them when their game takes to it for safety. In they plunge, 

 and seldom quit their object till the fatal bite is inflicted. The brain 

 is generally first eaten, and the body of the victim kept as a supply 

 near the haunt of the little hunter ; but it seems very questionable 

 whether they are addicted to those blood-sucking propensities which 

 the vulgar attribute to them ; and our own experience coincides with 

 that of Mr. Bell, who considers this alleged habit to be much exagge- 

 rated, and whose own observation, as far as it had gone, tended to 

 confirm the opinion of those who deny the existence of such a 

 propensity altogether. 



The last-named acute zoologist also throws well-grounded doubt on 

 the assertion that the Weasel will attack and destroy snakes; and 

 indeed he believes such a notion to be entirely erroneous. He placed 

 a weasel and a common snake together in a large cage, in which the 

 former had the opportunity of retiring into a small box in which it 

 slept. Mutual fear was manifest, and the animals kept at a distance ; 

 the snake however showing as much disposition to be the assailant as 

 the weasel, which at last gave the snake an occasional slight bite on 

 the side or on the nose, without however materially injuring the 

 reptile, and evidently without any instinctive desire to feed upon it. 

 After they had remained two or three hours together the animals 

 appeared almost indifferent to the presence of each other. The snake 

 was then removed. 



" How different was this weasel's conduct," ssfys Mr. Bell, after 

 relating the experiment above stated, " when a mouse was introduced 

 into the cage : it instantly issued from its little box, and in a moment 

 one single bite on the head pierced the brain, and laid the mouse 

 dead without a struggle or a cry. I have observed that when a 

 weasel seizes a small animal, at the instant that the fatal bite is 

 inflicted it throws its long lithe body over its prey, so as to secure it 

 should the first bite fail ; an accident however which I have never 

 observed to occur when a mouse has been the victim. The power 

 which the Weasel has of bending the head at right angles with the 

 long and flexible though powerful neck, gives it great advantage in 

 this mode of seizing and killing its smaller prey." 



This destroyer becomes itself a victim to birds of prey. We have 

 all heard the story of the eagle and cat, and how the maddened quarry 

 brought the mighty bird that had snatched it away down again to the 

 earth in the agonies of death. In the ' Magazine of Natural History' 

 a similar anecdote is recorded of a stoat and an eagle, not however 

 with any strong voucher. But Mr. Bell, on the authority of Mr. 

 Pindar, residing when the event occurred at Bloxworth in Dorsetshire, 

 relates the following passage in the life of a weasel ; and as there is 

 no ground whatever for doubt, it affords a striking instance of the 

 murderous instinct of this little quadruped. 



Mr. Pindar, while riding over his grounds, saw at a short distance 

 from him a kite pounce on some object on the ground, and rise with 

 it in hia talons. " In a few moments however the kite began to show 

 signs of great uneasiness, rising rapidly in the air, or as quickly falling, 

 and wheeling irregularly round, whilst it was evidently endeavouring 

 to force some obnoxious thing from it with its feet. After a sharp 

 but short contest the kite fell suddenly to the earth, not far from 

 where Mr. Pindar was intently watching the manomvre. He instantly 

 rode up to the spot, when a weasel ran away from the kite, apparently 

 unhurt, leaving the bird dead, with a hole eaten through the skin 

 under the wing, and the large bloodvessels of the part torn through." 



With similar courage the Weasel will attack dogs, and even men, 

 when ita nest is invaded. This is framed of dry leaves and herbage, 

 and is generally lodged in some snug locality, such as a crevice in a 

 bank, the hollow of a tree, or a dry ditch, which keeps it warm and 

 comfortable. Here four or five young are brought up from each birth, 

 and the number of these litters is two, or even three, in the year. 



The female Weasel is smaller than the male, and Mr. Bell well 

 observes that it is probably the " little reddish beast " called by the 

 country people a Cane, mentioned in White's ' Selborne,' and described 

 a not much bigger than a field-mouse, but much longer. Mr. Blyth 

 informed Mr. Bell that the animal was known in Surrey by the name 

 of Kine. 



This species sometimes, but rarely, turns white in the winter, and 

 in this state it is the Mustela nivalis of Linnsus. Mr. Bell received 

 one from Scotland with two white spots on each side of the nose , 

 which it retained throughout the summer. 



Pennant gives the following national names for this species : 

 Bronwen of the Welsh ; La Bellette of the French ; Donnola, Ballo- 

 tula, and Benula, of the Italians ; Comadreia of the Spanish ; Doninha 

 of the Portuguese ; Wisel of the Germans ; Weezel of the Dutch ; 

 Vesla of the Swedes ; and Vsesel of the Danes. The Anglo-Saxon 

 name is Wesle. 



M. erminea, Linn., the Ermine- Weasel. Body reddish-brown above, 

 white beneath (in winter wholly white) ; extremity of the tail always 

 black. (Bell.) 



Winter Dress. Yellowish-white, the yellow hardly visible on the 

 head, but gradually showing itself more and more on the body and 

 increasing in intensity, so that some are of a pale yellow colour on 

 their hind parts. In high northern latitudes, and iu severe winters 

 lower down, the white on the upper parts is quite pure. 



Ermine (Sfustela erminea} in -winter dresa. 



Summer Dress. About the end of March the upper parts change to 

 reddish-brown, of rather a dull tint ; the lower parts continue white. 

 The tail, as noticed in the specific character, remains black at the 

 extremity during all the changes. 



. ,. 



Ermine (Mmtela erminea) in summer dress, 



In northern latitudes, even in the alpine districts of Scotland, 

 Mr. Bell observes that this change is universal ; but farther south it 

 becomes an occasional and even rare occurrence. 



With regard to the mode in which this alteration is brought about, 

 Mr. Bell expresses his belief that the winter change is effected not 

 by the loss of the summer coat and the substitution of a new one, but 

 by the actual change of colour in the existing fur ; and he cites, in 

 proof of this view of the subject, the caae of the Hudson's Bay 

 Lemming, which in Captain Sir John Ross's first Polar Expedition was 

 exposed iu its summer coat on the deck to a temperature of 30 below 

 zero, and the next morning the fur on the cheeks and a patch on 

 each shoulder had become perfectly white. Next day the shoulder- 

 patches had considerably extended, and the posterior part of the body 

 and flanks had turned to a dirty white. At the end of a week the 

 winter change was complete, with the exception of a dark baud across 

 the shoulders prolonged down to the middle of the back. 



That change of temperature, and not merely change of season, is 

 necessary to effect the alteration of colour, is evident from Mr. Hogg's 

 observations. (5th vol. of Loudon's ' Magazine of Nat. Hist. ; ' Bell, 

 1 British Quadrupeds.') 



Mr. Hogg, whose remarks appear to have been made in the county 



