CULTURE OF FUR-BEARERS 251 



the trail of this weasel through fields and meadows, 

 and witnessed the immense destruction which it occa- 

 sioned in a single night. It enters every hole under 

 stumps, logs, stone heaps and fences, and evidences 

 of its bloody deeds are seen in the mutilated remains 

 of the mice scattered on the snow. The little chip- 

 ping or ground squirrel, Tamias Lysteri, takes up its 

 residence in the vicinity of the grain-fields and is 

 known to carry off in its cheek-pouches vast quanti- 

 ties of wheat and buckwheat, to serve as winter stores. 

 The ermine instinctively discovers these snug retreats, 

 and in the space of a few minutes destroys a whole 

 family of these beautiful little Tamice; without even 

 resting awhile until it has consumed its now abundant 

 food, its appetite craving for more blood, as if im- 

 pelled by an irresistible destiny, it proceeds in search 

 of other objects on which it may glut its insatiable 

 vampire-like thirst. The Norway rat and the com- 

 mon house mouse take possession of our barns, wheat 

 stacks, and granaries, and destroy vast quantities of 

 grain. In some instances the farmer is reluctantly 

 compelled to pay even more than a tithe in contribu- 

 tions towards the support of these pests. Let, how- 

 ever, an ermine find its way into these barns and 

 granaries, and there take up its winter residence, and 

 the havoc which is made among the rats and mice will 

 soon be observable. The ermine pursues them to their 

 farthest retreats, and in a few weeks the premises are 

 entirely free from their depredations. We once 

 placed a half-domesticated ermine in an outhouse 

 infested with rats, shutting up the holes on the 



