1S() THE STOAT, OR ERMINE. 



thread all the holes they come near, passing from 

 one to another with amazing swiftness, till they are 

 able to discover and seize upon their prey. 



During some part of Professor Pallas 's residence 

 in the northern countries of Europe and Asia, he 

 collected together, into iron cages, several wild 

 Ermines, in order to make observations on their 

 manners and natural disposition. They were much 

 more ferocious than the Weesel; and, during the 

 whole time that he kept them, lost very little of 

 their original character. Such was their voracity, 

 that, in the course of a day, they would generally 

 devour more food than was equal to their own body 

 in weight. They would take food from the hand, 

 when it was offered in small pieces. During the 

 day-time they continued, for the most part, asleep 

 and tranquil. But as soon as the night approach- 

 ed, they always seemed uneasy, and made every 

 possible effort to escape from their prison. Any 

 thing of wood which happened to be about their 

 cages, they gnawed with so much vehemence, as 

 in a short time to cut through a very considerable 

 thickness. When irritated, they always sprang, with 

 rage, upon the object that offended them, exerting 

 a kind of cry, or shrill whistle, not unlike the chirp 

 of a sparrow; their blood-red eyes, at the same 

 time, sparkling almost like fire*. 



* Traduction des Voyages de Pallas, quoted in Buff. Sonn. xxv. 

 p. 160, note. 



The 



