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THE COMMON WEESEL*. 



MOUSE-HUNT. VARE. WHITRET. WHITRED. 



Like the Polecat, the Weesels usually take up 

 their residence, during winter, in granaries, barns, 

 or other outbuildings; but in summer thry range 

 abroad, and then seek for shelter in thickets or 

 hedge-rows. In their wild state they are of a shy 

 and rapacious disposition. They catch their prey 

 chiefly during the night; and they have sufficient 

 powers of body to prove very destructive to nu- 

 merous animals, many of which might be thought 

 much more strong and courageous than themselves. 

 Of the havoc which these animals sometimes commit 

 amongst the Rabbets of a warren, the following is a 

 very remarkable instance, communicated to me by 

 a gentleman, from his personal knowledge, and on 

 whose veracity I have the most perfect reliance. 



In the warren at Wakefield Outwood, in York- 

 shire, a Weesel was one day observed in the act 

 of dragging along a young Rabbet, which it had 



* Viverra vulgaris. Shaw. Mustela vulgaris. Linnceus. La 

 Bellette.Buffbn. 

 For the description of the Weesel, see the Synopsis, p. 29, No. 45. 



just 



