112 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



not overtake its prey by superior speed, yet the timid hare 

 soon took refuge in the hollow of a tree, or in a hole dug by 

 the Marmot, or Skunk. Thither it was pursued by the Ermine 

 and destroyed, the skin and other remains at the mouth of the 

 burrow bearing evidence of the fact. We observed an Ermine, 

 after having captured a hare of the above species, first behead 

 it and then drag the body some twenty yards over the fresh 

 fallen snow, beneath which it was concealed, and the snow 

 lightly pressed down over it; the little prowler displaying 

 thereby a habit of which we became aware for the first time 

 on that occasion. To avoid a do g that was in close pursuit, it 

 mounted a tree and laid itself flat on a limb about twenty feet 

 from the ground, from which it was finally shot. We have 

 ascertained by successful experiments, repeated more than a 

 hundred times, that the Ermine can be employed, in the man- 

 ner of the Ferret of Europe, in driving our American rabbit 

 from the burrow into which it has retreated. In one instance 

 the Ermine employed had been captured only a few days be- 

 fore, and its canine teeth were filed in order to prevent its 

 destroying the rabbit; a cord was placed around its neck to 

 secure its return. It pursued the hare through all the wind- 

 ings of its burrow, and forced it to the mouth, where it could 

 be taken in a net, or by the hand. In winter, after a snow 

 storm, the ruffed grouse has a habit of plunging into the loose 

 snow, where it remains at times for one or two days. In this 

 passive state the Ermine sometimes detects and destroys it. 



"Notwithstanding all these mischieveous and destructive 

 habits, it is doubtful whether the Ermine is not rather a bene- 

 factor than an enemy to the farmer, ridding his granaries and 

 fields of many depredators on the products of his labour, that 

 would devour ten times the value of the poultry and eggs 

 which, at long and uncertain intervals, it occasionally destroys. 

 A mission appears to have been assigned it by Providence to 

 lessen the rapidly multiplying number of mice of various spe- 

 cies and the smaller rodentia. 



"The White-footed Mouse is destructive to the grains in the 

 wheat fields and in the stacks, as well as the nurseries of fruit- 

 trees. Le Conte's Pine Mouse is injurious to the Irish and 

 sweet potato crops, causing more to rot by nibbling holes in 

 them than it consumes, and Wilson's Meadow-mouse lessens 

 our annual product of hay by feeding on the grasses, and by its 

 long and tortuous galleries among their roots. 



