19$ LETTER XXX1H. 



ant! mice it is a more dreadful enemy even than the 

 cut, tor being slender, it pursues them into their holes. 

 It is, therefore, very useful to the farmer in out-house* 

 and granaries, which in winter it commonly frequents, 

 iind effectually clears of all sorts of vermin; hut it 

 often counter-balances these benefits by its destruc- 

 tion of eggs, and its depredations in the pigeon- 

 houses, where it creeps into the holes and devours 

 the young ones. It also catches by surprise sparrows, 

 arid all kinds of small birds, and always follows wher- 

 ever nits or mice abound. When it enters the poul- 

 try yard, it seldom attacks the cocks or the old hens, 

 but always aims at the young ones, and never fails to 

 suck, or at least to break all the eggs it can meet 

 with. The evening is the time when it commences 

 its depredations. 



The weazel seems to have a strong predilection for 

 every thing of a putrid nature. It conveys its food to 

 its hiding place, and seldom eats it until it begins to 

 putrify. It is an un tractable little animal, and when 

 confined in a cage, appears in a continual state of 

 agitation. M. de Button asserted the impossibility of 

 taming the weazel, but his error has been corrected 

 by experiment: for in some instances it has been 

 rendered as familiar as a dog or a squirrel. 



The bite of this diminutive animal is generally fa 

 tal, as it always seizes its prey near the head, and 

 fixes its teeth m a vital part. An eagle having seized 

 a weazel, and carried it up into the air, the little cap- 

 tive so far disengaged itself, as to bite its enemy in 

 the throat, which soon brought him to the 

 and thus effected its escape. 



THE FOUMART 



is an animal not uncommon in this country : in shape 

 it resembles the weazel, but far exceeds it in size, be- 

 ing not less than from fifteen to eighteen inches in 

 length, exclusive of the tail, which is about five or 

 six : it is generally of a deep chocolate colour. Its 

 habits are perfectly similar to those of the weazel, 

 raid its mode of living in every respect precisely the 

 same. It is exceedingly tierce and bold. When at- 



