114 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



criminately persecuted. If detected in the poultry house, there 

 is some excuse for destroying it, as, like the dog that has once 

 been caught in the sheepfold, it may return to commit further 

 depredations; but when it has taken up its residence under stone 

 heaps and fences, in his fields, or his barn, the farmer would 

 consult his interest by suffering it to remain, as by thus invit- 

 ing it to a home, it will probably destroy more formidable ene- 

 mies, relieve him from many petty annoyances, and save him 

 many a bushel of grain. " 



The same author, alluding to the Weasel's want of shyness, 

 and its ready capture in any kind of trap, continues with a 

 matter that may next interest us its relative abundance in 

 different localities: "This species does not appear to be very 

 abundant anywhere. We have seldom found more than two or 

 three on any farm in the Northern or Eastern States. We have 

 ascertained that the immense number of tracks often seen in the 

 snow in particular localities were made by a single animal, as 

 by capturing one, no signs of other individuals were afterwards 

 seen. We have observed it most abundant in stony regions; 

 in Dutchess and Ontario counties in New York, on the hills of 

 Connecticut and Vermont, and at the foot of the Alleghanies 

 in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is solitary in its habits, as 

 we have seldom seen a pair together except in the rutting season. 

 A family of young, however, are apt to remain in the same 

 locality until autumn. In winter they separate, and we are 

 inclined to think they do not hunt in couples or in packs 

 like the wolf, but that, like the bat and the mink, each indi- 

 vidual pursues its prey without copartnership, and hunts for 

 its own benefit." In Massachusetts, according to Allen, it is 

 comparatively common. I myself saw none in Labrador during 

 my summer visit; but it must be quite abundant, to judge from 

 the number of skins I saw in possession of the natives at various 

 places. According to Richardson, ''Ermine-skins formed part 

 of the Canada exports in the time of Charlevoix; but they have 

 so sunk in value, that they are said not to repay the Hudson's 

 Bay Company the expense of collecting them, and very few are 

 brought to the country from that quarter." Nevertheless, it 

 would appear that the Ermine is much more abundant in British 

 America generally than it is in the United States. Over three- 

 fourths of the large miscellaneous collection of skins we have 

 examined in the preparation of this article came from this coun- 

 try and from Alaska. The writer last mentioned speaks of it 

 as "common", and adds that it often domesticates itself in the 



